The Sage's Curse!
by KingsOfSarutobi
Summary: The Rikudo Sennin is tired of the Akatsuki wreaking havoc in his precious world, so he does what any logical human being does - sends them to a new one! Watch the Akatsuki as a new set of changes are placed in motion that will shake up the human and shinobi worlds! (No longer on Hiatus!)
1. Chapter 1: Enter: Rikudo Sennin

**Author's note:**

**This is my first chapter of my first story, so please critique. That being said, please provide me some feedback that will help me write better. **

**One constructive review is worth a thousand fans &amp; haters.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters in the Naruto manga or anime.**

" = Speech

' = Thoughts

Hagoromo Otsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths, watched the state of the world through his limitless chakra reserves. Hagoromo sat on his transparent and home invisible only to him and his brother. His home was on top of a cloud that never vanished. His home was quite humble for the Savior of the World: a small cottage and a garden, which was never perfectly kept. Sighing yet again at the limitless violence made by his descendants, Hagoromo rubbed his eyes in exasperation. The old man's Rinnegan eyes were tired of seeing violence, and more than anything, abuse of the nine Bijuu, the tailed beasts.

The attempts to capture the tailed beasts from clan after clan, village after village, finally reached the era of Jinchuriki. The creation of Jinchuriki only became widespread after the Shodaime Hokage, Senju Hashirama, brought the Kyuubi, Nanabi, Gobi, and Rokubi under his control. Hashirama's Mokuton was powerful enough to even suppress Bijuu chakra, which is exactly what he did, and to great effect. After spreading the Gobi and Rokubi to Iwagakure and Kusagakure, the Nanabi was sent off to Takigakure as a gesture of goodwill to a smaller nation.

Nothing could be further from the truth; Hagoromo knew that although humans thought that his precious Bijuu were nothing more than demons, they were much more. Each tailed beast had it's own techniques, abilities, emotions, quirks, talents! Yet, humanity continued using his precious Bijuu as weapons that even their own Jinchuriki despised and ignored.

Over time, various Bijuu were captured and forced from one land to another. The Rokubi was taken from Kusagakure by Kiriagakure shinobi, with the help of the Sanbi Jinchuriki in the first Shinobi World War. The Hachibi was removed from Amegakure in the second Shinobi World War, with the help of the Nibi and Nidaime Raikage. All the while, Hagoromo was watching, rubbing his eyes and sighing in disgust at the world he had left his precious creations in.

'Hopefully one day I'll smile and see my Bijuu happy.' Thought Hagoromo every time one of the nine tailed beasts was mistreated or ignored. The Sage of Six Paths' luck was clearly against him, as the world sped continued through the Third Great Ninja War. A group of S-Ranked Nuke-nin decided to turn their attention towards capturing all nine Bijuu in order to resurrect the nightmare of Hagoromo's era, the Juubi. The leaders of this organization were following the orders of one of the Sage's descendants, no less!

Hagoromo continued to be in deep thought about this new organization, the Akatsuki, until his brother Hamura joined him in observing the world the two brothers had saved, long, long ago.

"Brother, do you have any ideas?" Hamura asked Hagoromo, knowing every detail about his brother's predicament. Hamura looked and saw just how exhausted his brother was. Hagoromo truly looked like he had lived through all ages, and looked even more ancient than his age would show. Hamura knew from the pained expression that Hagoromo's worries about the Bijuu had far from left him.

"An organization desires to resurrect the Juubi, brother. They are going to take all nine tailed beasts and seal them in that monstrosity's husk." Both brothers sat in silence for a second, remembering the horrors of fighting their mother, Kaguya, alongside the Juubi. Hamura scrunched his eyebrows and looked at Hagoromo. "Hago, what about taking the Bijuu out of that world and bringing them to us?" Hagoromo looked up at Hamura, as if contemplating his brother's intelligence.

"Hamura, the Bijuu can only stay with us so long before getting bored of our company." After processing Hagoromo's statement, Hamura sighed and created a small wall. 'Only Hago would think that the boredom of the tailed beasts is a primary concern.' Thought Hamura as he repeatedly slammed his head into the wall. Hagoromo suddenly looked up with a new light in his Rinnegan, he clearly had a new idea.

"Hamura, what if I sent them to another world, somewhere with less fighting?" Hagoromo looked hopeful as he waited for his brother's reaction. 'Less fighting, I wonder… Perhaps then I won't have to deal with Hago losing his mind every time something happens to his Bijuu…' As Hamura kept thinking of all the benefits that would come from his brother's peace, he decided to add a piece of his own. "Hago, the group that's after the Bijuu, Akatsuki, was it? What if we sent them along to protect the Bijuu rather than harm them?" Hagoromo had an evil grin from all the possibilities.

"Well, brother, it seems I'm going to find the Akatsuki and make them help the Bijuu." With that statement, Hagoromo warped into the tallest tower of Amegakure, the village Hidden in the Rain. Invisible to all, he strolled deeper into the maze of pipes and hallways until reaching a small room in the center. In said room, Hagoromo found a man with spiky orange hair, Rinnegan, and dozens of Chakra receivers all over his face. Next to him, a woman with blue hair and amber eyes was talking to him. Both, Hagoromo noticed, had black cloaks with red clouds on them, and each one had a conical straw hat with strips of paper going down, which would undoubtedly provide anonymity.

"Pein-sama, Deidara and Sasori-san are going to Sunagakure to hunt the Ichibi, just like you asked them to. Hidan and Kakuzu-san are going around Kakuzu's network to discover more information about the Nibi's location, as well as collecting more funding from bounty hunts." The blue haired woman finished, and Hagoromo scowled in fury. These two were clearly among the higher-ups of the Akatsuki, with the Rinnegan bearer being the leader of the two. Hagoromo knew that one of Indra's descendants was the leader of the Akatsuki, but he seemed to not be present. 'Be patient, Hagoromo. He will show up eventually…' Hagoromo thought to himself, as he felt no other presences in the area.

"Everything is going according to plan, then. You have done an excellent job getting me this information, Konan. When Itachi and Kisame return from their mission, send them with Zetsu to locate the Yonbi Jinchuriki and analyze his fighting style. We need to know his strengths, weaknesses, locations he frequents, habits, and any other relevant information." With this, the man, who Hagoromo assumed to be Pein, walked over to a map, which showed all the known lands. Hagoromo noted that some of the locations were crossed out, a clear sign of thorough searching.

Hagoromo was about to make himself visible when a third figure arrived, using a teleportation from one of the three great Dojutsu, the Sharingan. This man's lack of a black cloak with red clouds surprised Hagoromo, but then again, Indra was always proud, and it made sense that his descendants were that way too. What was unusual about this Uchiha, however, was not his pride or his lack of a cloak, but his mask; an orange, spirally mask that covered one eye, only leaving one Sharingan visible. 'So this one is the true leader of the Akatsuki. Definitely one of Indra's descendants, that nasty look in his eye is all I need to see.' Hagoromo thought and decided that now was the only time to get the attention of all the Akatsuki higher-ups.

Allowing himself to be visible with his staff in hand, Hagoromo merely stood in his awe-inspiring power, waiting for Pein, Konan, and the third man to see what they had gotten themselves into. Pein's eyes widened in anger and disbelief at seeing the staff, the demonic features, and more than anything, Rinnegan in Hagoromo's eyes. Konan turned paler than a sheet and backed away as fast as she could without leaving the room. The third man's eye narrowed as the tomoe in the Sharingan started spinning around wildly, looking for illusion or some possible sign of how the legendary Sage of Six Paths came into the scenario.

"Madara-san, what is going on here? How did he enter without any of us sensing him?" Pein instinctively jumped in front of Konan, knowing he had the highest chances of stopping any attacks the Sage could bring forth. The inside of Pein's head was running through possible ways of surviving such an encounter. 'Perhaps if I was able to go to an exit and use Shinra Tensei, I could push Konan away before the Rikudo Sennin could counter… No, his visual prowess is exponentially greater than mine. Perhaps a summoning could provide enough protection for both of us to escape… No, if his visual prowess works in a similar fashion to mine, he'll be able to use Banshou Ten'in and bring us back. Chibaku Tensei? No, his Chibaku Tensei is the moon itself, while mine is only the size of a city. Damnit, is there any way for escape?'

Hagoromo looked with curiosity at the masked Uchiha, knowing full well this individual's chakra couldn't even compare to a fraction of Madara's.

Laughing loudly, Hagoromo asked, "Madara? You're telling them that you're Uchiha Madara and they believe it? They believe that Madara would hide behind a mask in the shadows rather than just take charge and obliterate his enemies?" Hagoromo laughed even more, and despite his ancient features and unintimidating stature, his reputation turned those laughs into beacons of terror for the three Akatsuki in the room.

A second later, Pein and Konan registered the words of the Rikudo Sennin and looked at the masked man, questioningly. "Now, lets remove that mask of yours so your friends can see exactly who you are." Hagoromo said with a smile befitting of such an ancient figure as he pulled Madara into range of his arms to pull his mask off.

'Without any movement, or even saying the Jutsu's name, his visual prowess is on a level unimaginable compared to Nagato's!' Konan thought with worry replacing curiosity about Madara's true identity. Pein's mind wasn't having a better time.

'No sign of using Banshou Ten'in, no gesture with a hand, and complete choice over who or what he pulls in! Is this the Rinnegan's most powerful form?' Pein's mind was quickly looking for a solution as he truly realized how much the Rikudo Sennin dwarfed his visual prowess.

As Hagoromo pulled on Madara's mask, the masked Uchiha used Kamui to quickly flee to another dimension, undoubtedly to preserve his identity. The Rikudo Sennin broke the mask in half and dropped it at his feet. Despite his ancient features, Hagoromo had a mischievous glint in his Rinnegan, further signaling to Pein and Konan that the two of them were in for quite a 'talk'.

"So, I have two options for you, leaders of Akatsuki." Hagoromo's smile widened as he predicted the looks he would receive when he gave them this idea, and was somewhat surprised to see that the one with his eyes still had a poker face. "You can either die, or help me with a small issue I have." Hagoromo obviously knew that the issue would win, and he knew that Pein and Konan wanted to make the world better. If he let them know how removing the Bijuu from this world would save it, the two leaders would side with the Sage of Six Paths without a doubt. Upon seeing Pein and Konan exchange eye contact and take a minute or two reasoning out the possibilities, they both looked at Hagoromo and Pein replied, "The second option seems to have more convenience."

"My tailed beasts, my nine precious Bijuu are being hunted down by you. Your desires of resurrecting the Juubi prove harmful not only to my nine creations, but to the entire world. The Juubi's power will never be controlled by anyone, even the combined powers of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara at their fullest could not restrain it. What made you two think that you had even the slightest chance at controlling such a beast?" Konan looked down, presumably ashamed of her actions, while Pein narrowed his Rinnegan eyes. Mentally, Hagoromo sighed; Pein was without a doubt prideful, but luckily Hagoromo knew more than one way to shut up people with pride.

"I can offer you a method to make everyone's lives easier. Because you've somewhat agreed to the second option, you're going to help me." Konan looked up, curious as to what the second option was. Pein's eyes narrowed even further, clearly suspicious of my intentions. "If you're going to be so defiant, we could always continue this conversation in that giant contraption you're using as life support, Pein." Pein's eyes were blank, seemingly taking in the fact that I knew his greatest weakness; his fragile state.

"I will take all nine Bijuu and bring them to another dimension. Nine new Jinchuriki will be chosen, and the Bijuu will be treated better, as they will live in a more peaceful world without being used for power, or extracted and sealed repeatedly. These nine Jinchuriki will be kinder, and won't be forced to use the Bijuu chakra for fighting. These Jinchuriki and my Bijuu will be a team in perfect harmony, and your world will be free of the objects of your greed." Pein and Konan's eyes widened. The two of them had expected judgment of some sort from the greatest of all shinobi, but instead, had made an even better solution to the problem of how to make peace. 'Perhaps...' thought Konan, 'Were Nagato and I wrong?' Konan decided to investigate further, as her basic shinobi instincts started kicking in.

"Rikudo Sennin-sama, how will the Bijuu get sealed in these Jinchuriki, and how does our choosing of the second option change those factors?" Konan asked politely, but also curiously. Hagoromo's grin returned, even wider than before.

"Well, did you really think I would let people like the Akatsuki off the hook that easily? Let's take a look at the records of your members, shall we?" An image of Pein appeared beside Hagoromo.

"Pein, also known as Uzumaki Nagato, wielder of the Rinnegan. Your misdeeds are numerous. You have slaughtered over one hundred Amegakure shinobi in revenge, extracted two Bijuu from their Jinchuriki, killing the Jinchuriki in the process. You have also slaughtered the innocent families of those associated with Hanzo of the Salamander, as well as placed Amegakure under a reign of terror." Pein's ringed eyes visibly widened at the sound of his real name, and Konan braced for herself being next, after seeing the image of Pein flicker away and one of herself flicker in.

"Konan, also of Amegakure. You supported a cruel dictatorship, and aided in the terror that is the Akatsuki." Konan's sentences were only two, considering she had done many fewer things wrong in her life. Her image faded out as Akasuna no Sasori's image took her place.

"Akasuna no Sasori, of Sunagakure. Has killed over one hundred people and defiled the bodies of the dead by transforming them into human puppets. He specializes in poisons, and often creates poisons with the intent to kill slowly and agonizingly. On top of that, he also possesses a Jutsu that controls the mind of others, making them unwillingly do his bidding. He is willingly going to hunt down the Ichibi no Tanuki and join the ritual to seal it inside of that monstrous husk." Sasori's image flickered out and Deidara's took its place.

"Deidara of Iwagakure. Stole a forbidden scroll to make clay into an explosive. Went rogue from Iwagakure after setting off dozens of explosives, injuring and killing thousands. After this barbaric act, he aided terrorist factions trying to destroy Iwagakure, and only retired from his barbaric business when he made a bet on a whim and lost. He is also going after my precious Ichibi no Shukaku." Deidara's image left and was replaced by Hidan's.

"Hidan of Yugakure. Sacrifices people on a weekly basis in painful rituals. Aside from that, he went rogue from his village by slaughtering his family and all of his neighbors. His misdeeds are many, needless, and repetitive." Hidan's image flickered out and Kakuzu's took its place.

"Kakuzu of Takigakure. Steals people's hearts to prolong his life and kills people to make money. He has also killed several of his partners in the Akatsuki because of his temper. He uses the hearts he takes from people to aid in his bounty hunting and Jinchuriki hunting." Hagoromo dispelled Kakuzu's image and turned again towards Pein and Konan, Itachi's image in Kakuzu's place.

"Uchiha Itachi of Konohagakure. Itachi slaughtered his entire clan, caused severe mental trauma to his younger brother at the age of seven, by showing the killing of his parents. Itachi's use of the Mangekyo Sharingan creates fires that burn until their target is nothing more than ashes. His Tsukuyomi is torture in its most brutal form – mental torture. His eyes can control and manipulate without the consent of others." Hagoromo finished, Itachi's image being replaced by Kisame.

"Hoshigaki Kisame of Kiriagakure. Killed his comrades many times, for the sake of his master Saikazan Fuguki. Following those murders, he slaughtered his master in cold blood, taking Fuguki's sword with him. From then, he collaborated with the man who manipulated the Yondaime Mizukage, the very same man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara. Kisame revels in the sensation of killing his comrades, and even kills those who put faith in him." Kisame's image flickered out totally and Hagoromo turned to Pein and Konan.

"Because of your discrepancies in this world, I'm sending all nine of you Akatsuki with the Bijuu. When I see that both worlds are better because of this operation, I'll simply place you back in this dimension and you'll never have to go through with the resurrection of the Juubi, because the world will already be better." Pein and Konan's eyes narrowed, as they both wondered how the world would somehow get better without the 'God' and 'Angel' to guide it to true peace.

"Also, one more thing. The nine Jinchuriki will have already been chosen and given chakra by the time you arrive in the other dimension. You will simply have to piece together which Jinchuriki goes with which Bijuu; think of it as a puzzle!" With that, Hagoromo sped through 10,000 hand seals in a matter of seconds and slammed his fist into the ground.

Around the world, Hagoromo's jutsu took place.

Gaara, the Godaime Kazekage, was sparring with his siblings Kankurou and Temari, when a golden light emitted from his seal. Upon closer inspection, the three Sand Siblings discovered that the sand demon Shukaku was gone, along with its seal.

Nii Yugito and Kirabi sparred frequently. The two Kumo Jinchuriki weren't particularly close friends, but had great respect for each other, as fellow Jinchuriki. The two were locked in a match of strength, Yugito's cat claws against Kirabi's sword. The two felt a warm sensation in their stomachs, and looked down to see the seals of the Nibi and Hachibi glowing golden. The two's eyes, already wide, widened even further when they realized that their seals had vanished entirely, along with their Bijuu chakra. In less than five seconds, they had charged towards the Raikage's tower to report this new finding.

Isobu, the Sanbi turtle, sat at the bottom of a lake filled with mist. Isobu's three years long rest of freedom was interrupted by a golden glow. Opening its eyes, Sanbi realized that it was glowing, and the chakra signature that was drawing it near…

'Old man… So you've come to get us at long last? You kept all of us waiting, and let us go through enslavement after enslavement after enslavement. What's done is done though, perhaps you have something better planned for us now…' Isobu thought sleepily as the golden glow increased in brightness.

Around the other shinobi villages, the Bijuu and their seals were quickly extracted. Roshi, the Yonbi Jinchuriki, and Utakata, the Rokubi Jinchuriki, were both shocked but not entirely sad. The Gobi and Nanabi, which were sealed in the Gedo Mazou, were both taken, with Pein's sealing jutsu taken to make transportation easy. Of course, Uzumaki Naruto didn't notice the Kyuubi or the Tetragram seal being removed. He was too busy eating his forty-fifth bowl of ramen in his annual Ichiraku ramen-eating contest with Konohamaru.

Just after placing the nine Bijuu and their seals inside a scroll for safekeeping, the second part of Hagoromo's jutsu took place.

**The first chapter is over! The second chapter will be the Akatsuki entering our world with the Bijuu, and the framework for the first arc will be revealed by it.**

**I am not going to set myself to a "I can upload once a week" type schedule for future chapters, but rather I intend to write when I can, and upload when I can. **

**-KingsOfSarutobi**


	2. Chapter 2: Into Our World!

**Author's Note:**

**Chapter Two is here, aaaand the first chapter was pretty much ignored. That being said, I didn't expect much. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters in the Naruto manga or anime. I only own my Original Characters.**

The second part of Hagoromo's Jutsu took place immediately.

Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame walked on a deserted path through a forest. The two had recently completed a recovery mission for a scroll stolen from the land of Fire's Daimyo. The mission itself had been rather uneventful for this pair of Akatsuki, without any fighting whatsoever. Itachi had simply used his Dojutsu's genjutsu properties and convinced the thieves that he was their leader, and then simply eliminated all of the thieves with only a kunai.

To Kisame, the mission had been thoroughly boring. The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist were all made bloodthirsty through their missions, and the generally warlike nature of Kiriagakure didn't help. Kisame appreciated Itachi's skill most of the time, but the giant shark man was by no means happy about sitting back and watching others show off.

Uchiha Itachi felt the tug on his chakra before he saw the golden glow radiating from his skin. Looking around, Itachi saw faint golden light coming not only from his body, but from Kisame's too. Quicker than the eye could see, Itachi activated his Sharingan and compared the golden glow on himself and Kisame. Itachi felt a slight tug on his Chakra, but upon scanning the area, he could not find where the source was. In addition, he couldn't even find which direction his chakra was being pulled in, as if it wasn't from around him!

"Kisame, be careful." Itachi said calmly but warily.

"Don't forget I'm your equal, Itachi." Kisame said, still sour about being denied fighting against the thieves.

This pair of Akatsuki looked around desperately, searching for the source of the tug on their chakras. They searched before they vanished into the darkness of the Jutsu.

Akasuna no Sasori and Deidara were traversing to capture the Ichibi no Tanuki, Bijuu of the Godaime Kazekage, Subaku no Gaara. Sasori was a master of Sunagakure's puppet arts, becoming a legend of puppetry. Sasori, for his part, had created extremely powerful puppets out of the humans he had killed over his life. Among his favorites was Hiruko, a puppet that he used to nullify a puppet master's primary weakness: taijutsu, and the Sandaime Kazekage, who could manipulated iron sand. Hiruko and the Sandaime had dozens of weapons hidden all over their bodies, every one of them coated in Sasori's newest poison. He was eager to test it out and see the results, making him extremely anxious, at least as anxious as a puppet could be.

His partner, Deidara, viewed art extremely differently. Rather than being eternal like his partner's thought, Deidara viewed art as a single fleeting moment to be remembered but never seen again. The two's opinions of art were so different, in fact, that Deidara and Sasori often fought over it. Both had their fair share of wins and losses, but Sasori's superior experience gained him the lead in their conflicts. Deidara, despite being just over half of Sasori's age, still had a great deal experience. The act of killing a great number of Iwagakure Jounin and ANBU hadn't left Deidara unconfident or unskilled.

The two of them trudged on through the desert, straw hats and cloaks keeping the scalding rays of the sun at bay.

"Danna, is the entire nation like this, un?" Deidara asked, annoyed at the never-ending desert before them.

"Brat, if I didn't know the way to the village, we'd be lost in these deserts forever." Sasori said from inside Hiruko. Deidara groaned yet again. Sasori's hatred of being kept waiting was one of many, and Deidara's constant groans on the journey to the sand were about to join waiting in Sasori's list of hatreds.

Just as Sasori was going to give Deidara a piece of his mind, a golden glow surrounded the both of them.

"Deidara," Sasori said with venom. Deidara felt fear, Sasori never called him by his actual name unless he had made a severe mistake. "Did you cause this?" Sasori asked, holding up his arm.

Deidara looked down at his own flesh and saw the golden light covered him too. As the artistic Akatsuki pair looked for the source of the light, the two of them felt a tug on their chakra and then they saw nothing at all.

The 'Zombie brothers' of the Akatsuki were leaving another bounty office after their target hadn't given information about the location of the Nibi. Pein had never considered all possibilities however, considering the informant also happened to be an A-Rank Kumo nuke-nin worth 30 million ryo.

"Kakuzu, when can we leave? Jashin hates killing for money and plus, this place sucks!" Hidan yelled, waiting for Kakuzu to finish up his transaction with his banker. Hidan looked up and grinned at the sight of Kakuzu's green and red eyes flashing with anger.

"This funding is for the organization, Hidan. You will watch your tongue about this unless you want Leader-sama to personally deal with you!" Hidan snorted, he knew that Kakuzu had undoubtedly haggled with his banker until he had offered at least 5 million ryo extra for the bounty. Kakuzu was actually a skilled haggler and often kept the extra money from his bounties, making sure to not arouse suspicion from Pein. All of the members of the Akatsuki were loyal, but even Kakuzu had his own agenda when money was involved.

As Kakuzu finally left the bounty office, he noticed that a golden glow was being emitted from himself and Hidan. Kakuzu analyzed the glow carefully, and in his ninety-one year old wisdom, came to a conclusion. Kakuzu was left unable to tell his partner about the golden glow by Hidan panicking

"KAKUZU! What is this golden glow? What does it mean? Where did it come from?" Hidan asked as he grabbed Kakuzu's shoulders and shook him back and forth, in a panic. Kakuzu quickly removed himself from Hidan's panic and smashed him over the head with his iron-hardened fist.

"It appears to be tugging on our chakra networks. Rather than stealing it away however, it seems to be bringing us with it. If you don't understand it, think about it like a summoning." Kakuzu gave his idea to Hidan, at which point the immortal Jashinist stopped panicking and nodded.

Hidan readied his scythe as Kakuzu started preparing to be summoned. Neither one of the 'Zombie Brothers' were ready when the world went dark around them.

Zetsu, the Akatsuki spy, used his unique ability to fuse back into a tree, having completed his mission. Zetsu's black half looked rather bored with a simple spying mission, where as his white half was taking notice of all the small details. After spying on the Earth Daimyo, Zetsu learned that the Jinchuriki of the Yonbi, Roshi, was an old man with red hair, who was on a mission to retrieve a prized heirloom of the Earth Daimyo's family.

"**We need to return to Leader-sama and Konan. The Yonbi Jinchuriki being on a mission gives an excellent opening to capture him." **Said Zetsu's black half, somewhat bored.

"Don't be so dull, at least we got a mission…" Said Zetsu's white half, trying to look optimistic despite his obvious distaste of the mission. As the two halves of Zetsu both sighed and prepared to phase back into the Akatsuki's hideout, a golden glow surrounded his body.

"What is this?" Both halves asked at the same time. The two sighed again as their vision went dark.

Hagoromo smiled at Pein and Konan as he saw their expressions as the gold glow came upon their bodies.

"Where are you sending us, Rikudo Sennin-sama?" Konan asked, worried but more tired from the constant worry about the founder of Chakra.

"Konan-san, you don't need to worry about that. I am sending you to another dimension, vastly different from your own. You may, in fact, find very interesting surprises waiting for all of you Akatsuki in this world. Before you go, however, I will say one thing." Pein made eye contact with Hagoromo has he made his order.

"Pein, you and the other Akatsuki members will never succeed in your mission without keeping your heads down. If anyone realizes what kind of abilities you all have, your mission will fail, pitifully. If you have any desire of succeeding, whether for your own or the world's goals, keeping anonymity is key. Do not forget this!" Hagoromo said, as he smiled once again at the two Akatsuki leaders, seeing their eyes harden and their heads nod.

The nine Akatsuki woke up, and discovered they were no longer in a place they recognized. Large metal monsters with people inside them roamed on streets everywhere, giant steel buildings went hundreds of feet in the air, and strangest of all, people wearing strange clothes everywhere.

The Akatsuki had arrived on Earth.

Realizing this was the dimension the Sage of Six Paths sent them to, Pein and Konan remembered what he had said about being anonymous.

**_Pein's POV_**

I knew that my members weren't aware of the situation involving the Bijuu, and I knew that in the middle of some street wasn't the best place to relay the situation, especially considering how out of place we were, especially Kisame, Zetsu, my Rinnegan, and our Akatsuki cloaks. Seeing a huge scroll on the ground, I picked it up, knowing the Rikudo Sennin had sent it along with us. Looking around, I saw that the entire world was made of metal or stone, and the entire world felt like the grayness of its surroundings summed up its entire existence.

"Akatsuki, follow me." I said, my voice getting the attention of my members. Needless to say, they followed me (albeit with surprised expressions or a raised eyebrow) as I walked into a dark alley off of the street. Konan stood beside me, as usual, and the seven other members looked at me. Kisame, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Sasori, and Itachi had already met me in person, but Deidara, Hidan, and Kakuzu looked at me with faces of curiosity and surprise.

"So you're Leader-sama, un?" Deidara asked, looking at my Rinnegan and numerous chakra receivers. I could tell the explosion-happy Iwa nuke-nin was about to ask about the piercings, but I waved him off with one hand.

"Yes Deidara, I am Pein, better known to you all as Leader. Every single one of you was surrounded by a golden glow, yes?" All the members nodded except for Konan, she had been in the same room as me, after all.

"The reason we have been sent here is by the workings of the Rikudo Sennin." Needless to say, I was given blank stares by all of the members. With my Rinnegan, I knew that some members had assumed I had some type of run-in with divinity, and this sentence gave them all the prompts to believe it. I went on to recount his story to the group, as every other member added an account, except for Konan, Sasori, and Itachi, who were generally quiet. As the last accounts were spoken, I decided to make a plan.

"Itachi, your Sharingan will be extremely useful. You will find someone and use your Sharingan to discover somewhere we can make into a temporary base. Zetsu, you scout to find information about this world and about potential Jinchuriki for the Sennin's mission. Konan will help me look for any type of currency inside of this scroll. Kakuzu and Kisame will observe how these people act to each other. Deidara and Sasori will make an inventory of all our supplies. Hidan will stand guard." As I finished my orders, everyone responded with a chorus of "Hai" and did their tasks. Before doing the task I had set myself, I ran through a few hand seals and placed an area genjutsu to conceal the Akatsuki's presence.

All the ninja tools, food pills, dry rations, and other general tools were amassed on Deidara and Sasori. Kakuzu and Kisame put on a quick Henge Jutsu to look like normal people and walked around close to the alleyway, taking mental notes on behavioral patterns. Zetsu merged with the ground and moved through the ground until he reached suburbia. I worked with Konan to search the scroll, and we discovered the Bijuu, and their number of their tails labeled each one. Aside from the Bijuu, Konan and myself discovered bills of money similar to Ryo but much different; we assumed those bills were currency in this world, even if they did look strange. Itachi returned, a man following him, presumably under a Sharingan-induced genjutsu. Watching this, I telepathically communicated for Kisame and Kakuzu to return to the alleyway using my ring. As I saw them enter the alleyway, they disabled their disguises and looked with interest. As I gestured to Itachi, his Sharingan whizzed around and started the series of questions.

"Where are we?"

"The United States of America."

"What is the United States of America?"

"A country." Guessing how the rest of Itachi's interrogation might look without the proper prompting, I looked over to Itachi.

"Itachi-san, remember that the Rikudo Sennin probably sent us to another world, if not another dimension. These types of questions will only serve to disorient us more until we can find somewhere useful to regain our footing." Itachi nodded and went back to his interrogation.

"We are looking for a workspace, where should we look?"

"Get an office in that building." Said the man, pointing towards a building on my right.

"How large is this office?"

"The offices in the bottom of the building are small, and can only hold four or five employees."

"How many 'employees' do the offices in the top floor hold?" I couldn't resist feeling impressed by Itachi, yet again. The concept of the Akatsuki members as employees was laughable, only proven so when Deidara held in a laugh and Kisame's shark grin grew. Unseen by the other members, I had a very small smile on my face which was shifting from grin to grimace. After all, Akatsuki members could only leave the organization upon death or defection - joining the Akatsuki was a choice that could never be taken back, and it was not an easy fate to deal with.

"The highest one is one workspace. It could hold upwards of twenty employees. The individual offices are rather large too, large enough for sleeping quarters."

"What else does this office in the top floor yield?"

"It has several bathrooms, a shower, a kitchen, and refrigerator." I had heard all I needed to. As my unrivaled brain thought up the possibilities, I made my decision. We were going to take this "office" on the top floor and convert it into the Akatsuki's base of operations until further notice. I nodded to Itachi and he left, undoubtedly leading the victim of his Sharingan somewhere to disable the genjutsu he was under.

I focused on my ring and sent a message to Zetsu using it: 'we are getting an "office". Continue gathering information until further notice.'

As Itachi returned, I knew that I would need him to use a Genjutsu to ensure they would get undisputed control of the office. A thought that occurred to me was that the top of this building, from what I could see, had some type of shed on top of it. Perhaps that was where they could seal the new Jinchuriki? Walking inside of the building the man gestured, I saw a lobby, the air was colder than outside, but I couldn't detect any chakra coming from anywhere except for the eight of us. Itachi quickly walked up to the desk, Sharingan blazing. I grabbed Itachi and whispered my command.

"Get us the entire top office, and get more information on the shed on the roof of this building." Itachi nodded and turned back to the desk. The other members along with myself watched the Uchiha work his magic to get us the office.

"We need the entire top office." The man behind the desk in the lobby's eyes went wide at the Sharingan and he nodded, clearly under Itachi's genjutsu. The man grabbed a key and passed it to Itachi.

"This is the key for the top office. It is on floor 50." Itachi nodded, handing the key to me. The second part of the questioning was about to start.

"What is in the shed on top of the roof?" Itachi asked, calm as ever.

"It used to belong to the old mayor, a shed used for a government helicopter. When he resigned, he sold it back to the building, but he took the helicopter and the supplies with him. That shed is essentially free space." My eyes widened and I looked at Konan, just as she returned the glance. We both nodded and it was clear that I wasn't the only one who thought of it as a possible sealing space. As for figuring out what a 'helicopter' was, the Akatsuki had more than enough time to learn about the strangeness of the 'United States of America'.

"How much privacy does the office and shed give?"

"The office's previous owner stripped all the cameras off, and no one has replaced them since. There is one camera in the left corner of the back of the shed." Itachi nodded, sending that information to his mind.

"How many individual offices are there in the top office?"

"There are twenty individual offices, a small kitchen, two bathrooms, a shower, and a conference room." Despite being in a genjutsu, it was clear this man was proud of that office, which would have probably cost a fortune, had Itachi not been as good at genjutsu.

"We own that office, and the shed on top of the roof." Itachi said, the man simply nodded and repeated what Itachi said.

"No one will disturb us unless to collect rent for the office." Itachi said again, and the man nodded again.

I nodded my approval to Itachi and the eight of us walked up the stairs, everything was going to my plan. We arrived in the office, found a light switch, and looked around. Our office was very spacious, with rooms everywhere. The conference room was spacious, with chairs for eight people, not including the large chair at the head of the table. The bathrooms were in good condition, the shower was a source of much delight (few families got hot water, let alone criminal organizations!), and the kitchen provided an excellent place to store rations and prepare meals. As I looked out of the windows to the far distant ground, I remembered something important; Zetsu was still on his mission. I knew he would contact soon though. Zetsu always did.

**_Third Person POV_**

The two-minded being known as Zetsu was underground, listening in on conversations on the outside world. Upon entering a tavern, he looked around. Unfortunately for the less spartan members of the Akatsuki, no sake would be present for when they realized just how strange a world they were inhabiting. Looking around, Zetsu saw two old men, their flushed cheeks practically screaming about the heavy amount of alcohol they had just consumed.

"These young fools *hic* don't know what their goals in life are." Said a man with a long beard, shaking his head. The other drunk was a tall man, completely bald, with a long nose.

"They always *hic* hang out around the park in the middle of town. Teenagers *hic* running around without parents disciplining them. Back in our day we would get a smack on the head if we left the house without asking my papa!" The tall drunk said.

"**What if these Jinchuriki we create could be teenagers? If they're as foolish as these old drunks say, we should be able to bring them to the base and use a sealing Jutsu…"** Black Zetsu offered, curious as to Pein's reaction to his proposal.

"But the Rikudo Sennin isn't easy to understand, what if he already has something planned for us? We can't trust people as volatile as teenagers with the Bijuu!" White Zetsu said nervously, remembering the information that the Akatsuki had amassed about the antics of Uzumaki Naruto as a child, and the bloodthirsty nature of Sabaku no Gaara.

"**Let's go to this "park" and see what these old fools are talking about."** Black Zetsu said, as the two halves of Zetsu phased into the ground, only to be invisible to everyone else, underneath the park. It was everything the old men had described: teens wandering aimlessly around, some in groups, some on his or her own. They were chattering, listening to music, even a few yelling or fighting. The two halves of Zetsu knew what to do, immediately travelling towards the chakra signatures of the eight other Akatsuki members.

Meanwhile, the other eight Akatsuki members had finally decided who's room would be where, removed the security camera from the shed on the roof, and had all occupied chairs in the conference room, waiting for Zetsu. Not even five minutes after starting the wait, Zetsu appeared from the floor, nodded towards Pein and Konan, and took a seat.

"What are your findings?" Pein asked, with the smallest hint of curiosity.

"Pein-sama, at first we went into a bar and observed two old men who were talking. **They were drunk. Then after that we listened to their conversation about how young people are stupid.** They mentioned that teenagers wander around without supervision, especially near a park, so we headed to this park and observed how they acted. Although the park wouldn't be the best place to do so, we discovered that… **The best Jinchuriki are teenagers because it would be easiest to obtain them. Also, I don't think there is any sake in this world.**" The two halves of Zetsu concluded, nodding once again.

Pein rubbed his eyes, and opened the scroll, undoubtedly to look for more clues, and presumably some way the insanity of the less stable members could be prevented without numerous doses of sake.

'Leader-sama seems so unprepared in comparison to his behavior in Akatsuki meetings, un.' Deidara thought, as he looked at the scroll from across the table. Deidara's eyes scanned the scroll lazily as Pein went through it, until Deidara spotted a few kanji, and his eyes widened upon reading "Jinchuriki clues".

"Pein-sama, un! Look at this!" Deidara pointed towards the kanji as he bit his thumb, smearing just enough blood on the scroll to summon the object sealed within. Pein looked at the piece of paper that came out and read it out loud to the Akatsuki.

"For the Akatsuki,

One loathes all who boast.

Two is similar to the Jinchuriki in your world.

Three is a loner who has an ace up his sleeve.

Four has the Yonbi's fire for hair.

Five and Deidara are birds of a feather.

Six and Three both belonged to the same village, and now Six needs Three.

Seven could pass for a Senju.

Eight will stick to the shadows as much as he can.

Nine is arrogant.

Also, each one has a chakra nature or Kekkei Genkai, be thankful I made it easy for you.

Rikudo Sennin"

Pein looked up, and looked at the members

"Because we will not be facing opposition from shinobi, each Akatsuki member will hunt a future Jinchuriki, including you, Zetsu." Said Pein. He pointed at Akatsuki members as he read each one the task given.

"Sasori, you will hunt the future Ichibi Jinchuriki. Hidan, you will hunt the future Nibi Jinchuriki. Kisame, you will hunt the future Sanbi Jinchuriki. Itachi, you will hunt the future Yonbi Jinchuriki. Deidara, you will hunt the future Gobi Jinchuriki. Konan, you will hunt the future Rokubi Jinchuriki. Zetsu, you will hunt the future Nanabi Jinchuriki. Kakuzu, you will hunt the future Hachibi Jinchuriki, and I will hunt the future Kyuubi Jinchuriki. Any questions?" Pein asked as he looked around, everyone remained silent.

"I assume everyone is ready to get started then. Before we go, everyone grab the necessary rations and supplies to capture soon-to-be Jinchuriki. Remember, we need them to cooperate with us if we want to be returned to our world, therefore, capture them unharmed if possible." The Akatsuki nodded and started grabbing the necessary supplies. Pein had a small smile as he looked out of the windows of his new office, everything seemed like it was going to plan.

**As I said earlier, the next chapter will present a much more entertaining start to the collection of the future Jinchuriki. Should be interesting.**

**All reviews and critiques are welcome**

**-KingsOfSarutobi**


	3. Chapter 3: Rebel and Puppetmaster!

**Author's note:**

**I read my first two reviews, and I feel so happy to see positive feedback ^_^**

**42: Thanks for the positive feedback; I try my best to impress.**

**princessbinas: That's about the opposite of what I'm going for, thank goodness. By "Five and Deidara are birds of a feather" I mean that they share the same type of philosophy. I don't intend for the Akatsuki to engage in anything mushy, to be honest I think it ruins their reputation. I'm glad you liked the second chapter, and I think it would take less time making a list of the members who WOULDN'T have road rage :D**

**Also, I will be out of town, starting tomorrow, and will continue to be gone for the rest of the week. I made sure to finish this chapter early to upload it, but luckily I'll have my computer with me, so I'll do my best to write up a few chapters. This is also the longest chapter I've written to date, with 3,924 words! (Yes, this includes Author's Notes too :P)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the Naruto Manga or Anime. I only own my Original Characters. **

Akasuna no Sasori is not a patient puppet. Inside Hiruko, his main puppet for defense and transportation, he looked down at a street where a fight was going to arrive.

**_Flashback _**

Zetsu and Pein both made a handsign and closed their eyes, concentrating. Between Zetsu's extraordinary abilities to find and recreate chakra, plus Pein's rinnegan and abilities as a sensory-type ninja, the two quickly identified that there was one chakra that belonged to none of the Akatsuki somewhere in the city.

"Pein-sama, what nature affinities do you you see in this new chakra?" Asked Zetsu.

"It feels like a lightning chakra nature, but it also feels like it could be earth chakra…" Said Pein, face scrunched up in concentration.

"Lightning or earth, right? Just tell me where to look for this future Jinchuriki. You all know that I hate to keep people waiting." Said Sasori, his voice gruff from inside Hiruko. Sasori knew that despite Hiruko's odd appearance, he wouldn't be going towards the most crowded areas of this city. He would go straight to the future Jinchuriki, bring him by free will or force, and then seal the Ichibi inside of this new brat. That was the extent of his mission, after all.

"Five blocks to the west, moving further west as we speak. Seems to be hurrying but still walking. This person's chakra is flaring, probably meaning increased heart rate or anticipation. I suggest you move quickly, Sasori." Said Zetsu, eyes closed.

Sasori didn't speak again, simply made his way to the roof and followed Zetsu's directions.

**Sasori's POV**

I looked around, my eyes intent on finding someone who matched Zetsu's information. My eyes scanned, and found a group of four men, at least twenty years old. All of them were wearing light, dark clothing and were following someone else. I jumped further ahead and looked more carefully at their target, a kid younger than the explosive brat, probably only fourteen or fifteen at the oldest. Although he looked calm, I could see his head tilt ever so slightly to peek at the distance between his assailants and him. Inside Hiruko, I nodded to myself with a small smile; this was my target.

My target made a sharp turn towards a dark alleyway, a completely foolish move in my opinion. He started running, trying to get to the other side of the alleyway, but in his haste, didn't notice the three figures inside the alleyway waiting for him. One simply stuck out his foot and the brat tripped over it, the second and third shadowy figures moved large trashcans to block his way through. The three, along with the three followers from before blocked the brat's way out. In response, the brat got into a fighting stance: left foot ahead of right foot, shifting his weight from left leg to right leg every second, while bringing both fists up for defense and quick countering. There may be no chakra-enhanced taijutsu like in my world, but at least people here have their own variants of taijutsu.

I decided that I may as well verify for Zetsu and Pein the brat's abilities and if possible, his chakra nature.

**_Flashback End!_**

**Gaichu's POV**

"Gaichu, Gaichu, lets see what you're made of, Gaichu!" Said one of my six assailants. My mouth turned into a dark scowl, I hated the name 'Gaichu'. Gaichu was Japanese for pest, and after I got sick of the horrible acts of my 'friends', that was their nickname for me. I knew my old friends well. Ever since the start of my eighth grade, I was a member of that gang. Inside my head, I knew that there had originally been eight members. One was me, who defected. There were only six of the seven remaining members, and I had to figure out which one it was… Looking around I started identifying my attackers.

Beard started by swinging a large knife at me, but no one backed him up. I quickly grabbed his wrist and struggled to get the knife out of his grasp. Beard always carried a large knife with him, usually was our lookout for any fighting operations. I saw an improvised flash bang grenade being hurled, and I turned my eyes away from the blast. Sam, known to our group as "Sticks", was the chemist (pyro) of our group, and was a huge fan of homemade fireworks, many of them more potent versions of the illegal variety. Ghost, despite his frail appearance, was excellent at hit and run strikes, but I managed to use one knee to block his punch, while still recovering from the flash-bang. Ghost was the resident hacker, making sure everyone had the best protection against foreign hacking operations.

What I felt next could only be described as having all the air in my body smashed out in two incredible strikes. Bug and Tug were giant twins; both of them lacked any and all intelligence, and were used as the main brawn of our group. As I fell on my knees trying to collect my breath again, I felt myself being dragged by Bug and Tug towards the final member of the present gang. The last member here was another fighter in the group, but was more of a captain. No one knew his actual name except for Boss, but we all referred to him as Jaws, due to his enormous appetite and shark-like strength.

"Gaichu, Gaichu, what will we do with little ol Gaichu?" Asked Jaws with a grin on his face. I knew that this group had dealt horrible vengeance for much more minor offences than betrayal, which left me in question of my fate. I knew judging by the way Beard was holding his knife he was eager to leave me some scars, and I knew Bug and Tug, being the oafs they were, didn't know how to hold back once a fight got started.

Bug and Tug raised their arms, in preparation to clobber me senseless. In response, a spider web of what looked like black sand came from above and moved with such ferocity and speed that all six assailants of mine were forced to back off. Stunned, I heard a voice speak from the roof of one of the buildings beside the alleyway.

"If you value your lives, leave the brat now. If you want to die, stay." voice was completely nonchalant, but it held hidden venom in its words. As Bug and Tug looked for the source of the voice, a large concentration of the black sand wrapped itself around each of my enemies, from foot to neck. As the sand squeezed their bodies for twenty seconds, I noticed that the voice came from a hunched over figure wearing a large cloak. Without warning, the sand let the six go, and they ran away. Beard, Sticks, and Ghost smashed over the trashcans they used to block the alleyway and were sprinting. Jaws, followed by Bug and Tug, ran back out into the main street, getting into Jaws's car. The car started and sped off without any delays.

The hunched figure jumped down from the roof and landed beside me without a sound, a feat that should have been impossible, judging by the height of the building. I quickly crawled away, my leg numb from Ghost's pinpoint strike, and my entire body felt crushed from Bug and Tug's strike. Without warning, a large metal tail with a spike on the end rushed towards me. In horror, I closed my eyes and placed my arms over my chest to protect my vital organs, until I felt the tail wrapping around me, and lifting me in the air. I opened my eyes to find that I was now less than two feet away from the strange, hunchbacked man.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" I asked, still freaked out by his abilities, despite his promise not to hurt me.

"I am a representative of an organization from outside of this world. My name is Akasuna no Sasori, and I have been tasked with bringing you back to our base." Said the man, who I quickly translated as "Scorpion of the Red Sand".

"Why am I being chosen, and what is your organization anyway?" I asked, much calmer than I had been; now that I knew he wasn't going to kill me, at least not kill me yet. I refocused as I noticed Sasori pull a small, card sized piece of paper out.

"Grab this in between your fingers and try to focus all your energy into that card. Once you do, it will make this much easier to explain" Said Sasori, as I took the piece of paper. I did as he suggested, and after about five or so seconds, the paper scrunched up, with my finger being the center. Just as I tried to process how this was possible, the paper started turning into dirt and crumbling, as I watched!

'What type of madness is this?' I thought in my head, before turning my attention towards Sasori of the Red Sand.

"What you just saw is your chakra nature. In the world I come from, chakra comes in five basic natures, and most people only have one until they practice extremely hard, except for those with Kekkei Genkai." Sasori said, as if he was simply explaining how the neighbor's cat had escaped. "A Kekkei Genkai is what happens when two chakra natures are present from birth, and this is usually present in certain clans, but random developments of kekkei genkai are not unheard of. You have lightning and earth chakra natures, which likely means that you have the Magnet release Kekkei Genkai, a form of which you've already seen in the talents of my Sandaime Kazekage puppet, who manipulated iron sand."

'So he was using iron sand? So that's what the black sand was…' I thought, wrapping my head around my possible Kekkei Genkai.

"What is the organization you work for?" I asked, looking warily at Sasori.

"I work for an organization called Akatsuki. An extremely powerful sage used an incredible technique to transport us nine Akatsuki with the nine Bijuu: giant masses of chakra in a physical form. They caused a great deal of chaos in my world, and the sage also viewed the Akatsuki as harmful to the world. We were sent to find new Jinchuriki, or vessels for the nine beasts. A Jinchuriki has the beast sealed inside of him or herself, and Jinchuriki can draw on the power of the beast. Jinchuriki also possess great risks…" Sasori trailed off, seeing that I had a question.

"So these Bijuu, do they have natures as well? And why was I selected for this job?" I asked, with a slight hunch as to why I was chosen.

"Each Bijuu has its own quirks and talents. The Ichibi, Shukaku, gives it's Jinchuriki manipulation over sand, plus it has the chakra natures of Wind and Earth. The Nibi is a very quick cat, possessing extremely powerful fire chakra. The Sanbi is a turtle that has very high defensive capabilities, along with excellent use of water chakra. The Yonbi is a proud ape that bestows the Lava Release Kekkei Genkai on its Jinchuriki. The Gobi is a wise horse with a dolphin's head. It is known for being very physically strong. The Rokubi is a slow slug with very little physical strength, but it has the ability to wriggle out of every situation with the acidic slime it possesses. The Nanabi is a rhinoceros beetle which is very good at evasion and long-range combat. The Hachibi is an octopus with an ox's head. It has the power to shoot extremely powerful quantities of ink, and it is also extremely strong, physically. The Kyuubi has a powerful will of hatred; which makes it an extremely difficult Bijuu to deal with." Sasori paused, letting me sink all of the information about the Bijuu in my head; despite the fact that there was no way I could hold all this information.

"You were chosen because the same sage who sent us here with the Bijuu also sent us riddles and gave you chakra signatures. That chakra signature is one of nine, and Leader-sama sent us to each find a Bijuu. I was tasked with finding the Ichibi, who hated all who boasted. Do you hate people who boast?" Asked Sasori, looking at me expectantly. Still stunned that of all the people in this world, I was chosen, I responded as best as my mind slowly kept trying to grapple with this newfound information.

"I don't like it when people are arrogant, no. I think that boasting is just an invitation to get the real world beaten into you." I responded: my mind still overloaded. Sasori simply nodded, and wrapped me in his metal tail again.

"I'm bringing you to the base, it's about time I reported the success of my mission. After all, I hate to keep people waiting." Said Sasori, and without warning, he once again defied all laws of logic by jumping up onto the roof of a building and speeding across the tops of buildings, possibly going as fast as cars on a freeway! Just before Sasori entered the building through the stairs on the roof, he spoke.

"We need a name for you. Gaichu doesn't fit, because there would be no need for six people to take down a pest. You're more of a rebel than a pest. How about Hanran?" I quickly realized that Hanran meant rebel, which I was very grateful for. I hated the nickname that my old friends gave me after I deserted their group. I absolutely detested it. The fact that the man who singlehandedly scared them all senseless and provided me with knowledge and an opportunity would acknowledge my talent was pretty awesome. I simply nodded and grinned in reply as Sasori let me out of his tail and gestured to the office directly below.

**Third Person POV**

Zetsu phased into Pein's personal office, where he and Konan were going through maps, reports from Deidara about all the supplies they possessed, along with notes about humanity from Kisame and Kakuzu.

"Leader-sama, Sasori has returned with the future Ichibi. I don't think he came along forcefully, considering Sasori is letting him lead the way." Pein looked up from his numerous scrolls and nodded to Zetsu.

"Send them in." Said Pein, as he and Konan stood up, curious about the abilities of the future Ichibi Jinchuriki. The future Jinchuriki stepped in first, observing everyone around him, before looking behind him at the approaching puppet.

"Sasori-san, is this Leader-sama? Plant-san sent us into here, after all…" Sasori nodded and walked in confirming the boy's suspicions. Sasori then turned to Pein and gave him the rundown of all the events.

"The boy was followed by three teens, and he turned into a dark alleyway, only to be blocked by a wall of trash cans along with three others. The six then attacked him and were about to beat him senseless until I showed up and used Sandaime's Iron Sand technique to bind them. His attackers had a variety of talents and went all out in attacking him. One had a long knife, another had pinpoint accuracy with pressure points, and one was a master of chemistry. The leader of the group was well built, and the last two were very reminiscent of the Idiot Brothers of Konoha. They all attacked at once, clearly a sign that they didn't want to take any chances with him. They named him 'Gaichu', and I felt the name was very inaccurate. For the time being, I believe we should call him Hanran, considering it takes a rebel to fight in such perilous odds." Sasori said, with an ounce of pride in his voice.

Pein's eyes widened slightly, for two reasons. The first reason was that the kid clearly was stupid, but was dangerous, considering the force his enemies had sent against him. The second reason was that Sasori almost never showed emotion when anyone was around, and if it was, it was typically annoyance about Deidara blowing something up. Sasori then handed me the remains of a chakra identifying paper, now a scrunched up pile of dirt,

"Lightning and earth, correct?" I asked, and Sasori nodded in reply.

"Uh, Leader-sama, what's going to happen now?" Hanran asked, looking around.

"You will stay here until we can seal the Ichibi inside of you. The sealing itself will take about eight hours, and the preparation for the sealing will take a bit of time, considering we want everyone's missions complete and our members well rested. It takes an extremely large amount of chakra to seal a Bijuu, and even our members with high chakra reserves need rest before eight hours of nonstop chakra usage. Also, Sasori here will be your sensei, and you will be his student. He will help you learn and develop your individual and Jinchuriki powers." Said Pein, and Sasori remembered something Pein said before all of the members marched off to their missions, or prepared to march off.

**_Flashback!_**

Pein moved to the kitchen, where members were stocking up on minor rations, kunai and shuriken (Itachi), sealing scrolls, poison containers (Sasori), clay (Deidara), Jashinist spikes and texts (Take a guess), and other materials, and cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Remember everyone, sealing is a long process and needs the utmost planning. Luckily, we shouldn't have any risk of ninja attacking us in a sealing ritual, but sealing is both time and energy consuming, so we will seal in the mornings, and end in the evenings. Because most of you will have completed your mission before the first sealing, I want every single one of you to grab two scrolls. The pile on the left has pre-strung hammocks, the pile on the middle has sleeping mats with a pillow and blanket, and the pile on the right has sleeping bags with a mat included. I tried to make the seals easy to undo, but be careful that you undo them with enough space for the sleeping option to deploy itself!"

Sasori grabbed a scroll from the pile on the left, and a scroll from the pile on the right and stored them with his actual puppet self, inside Hiruko.

**_Flashback End_**

**Sasori POV**

I used my tail to gesture for Hanran to follow me. He followed me along to my office. My office was fourteen feet by ten feet, and the room was about seven and a half feet tall. After noticing that all of the personal offices were like this, I felt more grateful for Itachi's genjutsu. Whenever I was in an Akatsuki base or on a mission, I always had to share a room with Deidara, who's tendencies to blow up everything he didn't agree with could easily extend to my artistic puppetry.

Hanran, however, looked at my newly decorated room with awe. I had puppet pieces I had yet to use hanging off of the walls, my desk had dozens of blueprints on it for puppets and concealed puppet weaponry. Hanran looked through all the vials and test tubes filled with poisons and antidotes waiting to be deployed, in the corner farthest from my door. Stepping out of Hiruko, Hanran's eyes widened as he looked firstly at me, then at Hiruko, inspecting the inside of it and gasping when he realized that Hiruko was a puppet.

"I am a puppetmaster, every single item in this room is involved with my art some way." I said, as Hanran sat down and opened his mouth to ask a question.

"Sasori-sensei, what do you mean, art?" I knew that now was the perfect time to show my student my art, and perhaps I would have the honor to see the expression on the brat's face when he realized another person in the Akatsuki shared my view on art.

"Art is eternal, and everlasting. Art is a masterpiece, which will never fade, even against the enemies of time and change. Art will always endure and shine through the hardships of the future. To me, these puppets I create will be my art, as ninja will use and remember my puppets and my techniques. I am called Akasuna no Sasori, and I am the master of the Secret Red Technique of my old village. Those techniques and legends are art, and when puppeteers talk about the legends of Akasuna no Sasori, those legends themselves will become art. Do you understand?" I asked, and my voice had a slight tone of commanding, despite my inner thought being hope. Hanran nodded, and said, "I think I understand, Sasori-sensei. You want your puppet arts and legends to be remembered forever and become their own art, right?" Even on my puppet face, my happy grin was apparent, and Hanran returned the grin eagerly. I helped him up and opened my two scrolls, placing them about four feet apart. I opened the sleeping bag, pillow, and mat and pointed for Hanran to sleep there, then used some spare puppet arms to hold up the hammock I would be using, despite the fact that I hadn't slept in years. I was, after all, still a puppet. As I noticed the sun going down and Hanran's tired face, I told him he could sleep, which he accepted swiftly.

As night set in, I lay in my hammock and thought about this new turn of events. Perhaps this world wouldn't be such a bad place, I thought, as I smiled once again.

**Chapter Three is finished. Again, PLEASE review, follow, favorite, all that good stuff. I'll probably write a chapter or maybe even two while I'm out of town, but I still have no clue if I'll be able to upload. **

**Thanks,**

**~KingsOfSarutobi**


	4. Chapter 4: The Chase-Jashinist vs Neko!

**Author's note:**

**In the near future I might hold a contest for the cover of this book, and soon enough I will hold a contest for making the book cover! That being said, I haven't introduced all of the Original Characters I intend to, and I haven't made up anything about how the contest will work. For any artistic minds, keep your eyes open!**

**Also, something happened to that plan of mine I had for this week. Remember how I said I brought my charger and computer so I could keep writing for you all? Well, I kinda left it at home and only got a new one on Wednesday, ha, haha, hahaha…. _ Luckily I have internet though, so I can watch out for any reviews or cool statistics stuff.**

**Replies:**

**princessbinas: I have something planned for their next artistic debate, so look forward to it!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters from the _Naruto_ Manga or Anime, only my original characters.**

**Third Person POV**

"Hidan, you idiot. You'll end up killing your target if you do that ritual of yours." Said Kakuzu, his eyes narrowed at Hidan's boastful nature.

"You old geezer Kakuzu! Jashin-sama will help me with this quest, because I'll go on a slaughtering rampage afterwards! And Kakuzu, I CAN'T DIE!" Hidan's magenta eyes were wide and insane, and as Kakuzu would say, "filled with religious babbling". Hidan, full of Jashinist energy, grabbed nothing but his scythe, Jashinist tools for sacrificing, and nearly charged out of the building, had Kakuzu not had the foresight to grab Hidan with his tentacles and drag him to Zetsu, who was in charge of locating the future Jinchuriki. The Akatsuki plant-spy's eyebrows rose as he saw Kakuzu dragging a swearing Hidan into the room. Kakuzu looked tired, but determined.

"KAKUZU! What was that for! I was about to get the favor of Jashin-sama, and-" Hidan was promptly cut off as Kakuzu brought his hardened fist on Hidan's head, promptly shutting him up and giving Hidan a raging headache. Kakuzu nodded to Zetsu, and the plant-man started tracking more chakra signatures. Zetsu detected three at the moment, one of which Sasori was closing in on, and one that Kisame was close to. The last one, Zetsu decided, would be the one Hidan searches for.

"**Two miles, towards four o' clock**. This person is the only one in the building, and has been for about ten minutes. **Hidan, move to a tall, large building filled with water.** That should be where the future Jinchuriki is. **Don't be an idiot**." Said Zetsu, eyes closed in concentration. Kakuzu released Hidan and let the zealous Jashinist run off again, but this time at four o' clock for two miles.

**Hidan's POV**

I was pissed. That money-loving partner of mine stopped me in the middle of my preparation prayer to Jashin-sama! Kakuzu couldn't have a care in the world about the wellbeing of me or the religion I followed, with Kakuzu it was either hunting bounties or doing missions for money from Leader-sama. No one let ME do what I wanted to do unless it was for a mission, and I know that Jashin-sama hates the fact that I receive money for doing his sacrifices. I reached the building Zetsu had described: very tall, very large, had tons of water, and looked like a Daimyo sized onsen. Upon closer inspection I realized that it wasn't an onsen, but some type of area for people to swim, judging by the inside of the building. I looked down and saw the giant sign that said, "POOL". I shrugged, figuring that I would discover what a "POOL" was when I returned to base with my future Jinchuriki. Thinking back to the sign, I smirked in delight because of a memory from earlier in the mission.

**_Flashback_**

I ran from building top to building top, jumping from roof to roof. I looked down the street and saw an interesting dynamic taking place. Four drunkards were on the street, yelling and beating a child, who from the looks of things, asked for food. I'm not a saint by any means, and to the people of Yugakure I'm an unparalleled demon. Even so, I needed people to sacrifice sometime soon. I may as well get back in my old habit. Leaping down, I saw that the streets on both sides were empty, except for the four drunken old men, the boy, and myself. Grinning, I walked to the other side of the street, with a special Jashinist scroll in one hand, and my scythe in the other.

"Well, who wants to become a sacrifice to Jashin?" I asked, just loud enough for everyone to hear me. The four drunkards were gaping at my cloak, as if trying to comprehend what it was for.

"BLOOD! YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR CLOAK!" One of the drunkards bellowed at me, staggering to hide behind his friend. The other three started babbling too.

"YOUNG MAN, HAVE YOU BEEN MURDERING PEOPLE?"

"IS THAT SCYTHE YOUR MURDER WEAPON?"

"WHY IS THE BLOOD SPLATTERED LIKE THAT? WHAT TYPE OF MONSTER ARE YOU?"

I rubbed my eyes, feeling both tired but strangely nostalgic. This type of reaction was highly annoying, but the voices of angry people afraid of me reminded me of the day of my mass slaughter in Yugakure. That was the day when I became their chief nightmare. I undid the Jashinist scroll I brought with me, and opened it to four sealing spots. Grinning, I bit my thumb and put blood on all four spots, while saying the Jutsu's name.

"Ninja Art, Jashinist Sacrifice Sealing!" I yelled, while watching the four drunkards get yanked into my scroll. I grinned, knowing I'd fixed my sacrificing issue. The Jashinist Sacrifice Sealing Jutsu sealed future sacrifices to Jashin-sama in a drunken haze, but allowed them to survive for an exceptional amount of time. If a Jashinist was unable to sacrifice someone for a period of time, the scroll would act as reserve sacrifice storage. I never thought I would have to use a scroll in sacrificing, but expecting the unexpected was something the Akatsuki reveled in.

Smirking, I heard small footsteps behind me. The child from earlier was staring at me with large brown eyes, grabbing my cloak with one tiny hand. I frowned and looked down at him.

"What do you want, kid? I got rid of those four idiots." I frowned down at the child, hoping he didn't ask for too much.

"Cloudy-san, what's your name?" I was surprised, S-ranked criminals were never given honorary titles like san unless they were threatening someone. What could a kid want with my name?

"Hidan's the name, now I've got to go." I said, prying the small hand off of my cloak and preparing to leap back onto a rooftop.

"I'll remember than, Hidan-san. I'll pay you back one day." Said the kid, walking off down the street. Despite being a true Jashinist, I had to smirk. A kid paying an S-ranked criminal back was a zany concept anyway. I would believe that was possible when dragons started raining from the sky. I leapt away and moved towards my target. After that, I would go to base with the target, set up my room, and sacrifice a drunkard to Jashin-sama!

**Flashback End**

Grinning again, I saw my target, as Zetsu said, the only person walking out of the "POOL". The poem the Rikudo Sennin left couldn't be more accurate. The future Nibi was extremely similar to the Nibi Jinchuriki in my world. She was tall, very long blonde hair, cat-like eye shape, and in my eyes, extremely attractive. As I pulled out my scythe, my grin grew. It was time to get this party started.

**Cassandra's POV**

I walked out of the pool building where my swim team met daily, into the parking lot. I always did the usual 4-7 times, but today I did an extra thirty minutes, because I felt uneasy, like something was going to happen. After putting jeans and a sweatshirt over my swimsuit, I quickly left the building. I hated the dark, even though I was blessed with incredible night vision. Walking out, I heard a snicker coming from… Above me? Looking up, I saw a man holding a scythe, wearing a strange dark cloak, looking down at me. I did not like people looking at me, but this man was simply concerning.

Moving fast, I kept my mind on getting to the nearest bus stop as fast as I could. Hearing a rustle behind me, I moved faster. Upon hearing the voice from behind me, however, I turned around and froze.

"You, stop. I need to talk to you." I turned around and my eyes widened while I felt my heart sink and body freeze. The man from the roof was now only twenty or thirty feet behind me. I had stalkers before, but the ability to move totally unheard and jump down from a hundred foot roof onto a parking lot was completely preposterous. As I narrowed my eyes, I quickly looked for anything noticeable about this stranger. He had slicked back silver hair, which was quite unusual, because he looked very young. He had a large, three bladed red and black scythe on his back, which looked like it had quite a bit of cord attached to it. If he had that much cord with him, it possibly meant he was proficient at throwing it. Absolutely perfect circumstances for me. He also had a black and red cloak; I couldn't tell if the red bits were splotches of blood or clouds due to the darkness outside. Taking the scythe into account, I'm going to assume blood.

"What do you want?" I asked, keeping my feet light. I knew that if I needed to run, I would need all five years of cross country and track ability to stand a chance of outrunning this man.

"I'm supposed to bring you to my organization's headquarters so we can seal the Nibi no Nekomata inside of you. Then you'll get along with us enough so that my organization can return to our world. Then we'll leave you alone." The man closed his eyes and dropped the smile. Quickly my head was whirring. His 'organization' needed me? What was his organization? And what on earth is a "Nibi no Nekomata"? One thing was clear to me; this man was dangerous, and I knew I couldn't trust him. I narrowed my eyes again, subtly moving my feet into an easier position to run in, waiting for my chance. The man yawned lazily, closing his eyes and rubbing them. Now was my chance.

Cross-country, track, and swim team really do wonders for leg strength and running speed. Sprinting, I knew that I was faster than anyone I had met. Fellow athletes in my three sports of liking, stalkers, friends wanting to see how fast I was, odds are, this strange man wouldn't be too much of a challenge. Grinning, I went around a corner, sprinting down the street, as I heard footsteps behind me. Turning for only a split second, I saw the man right behind me, keeping up my pace, with a shit-eating grin on his face. Not good. Now was the time to keep my thoughts to where I was going. Turning back around, I saw a small child blocking my way. He wasn't watching me, but I grinned; I knew just how to get past him. I hurdled over the child with ease, but to my dismay, the man simply leapt above him and onto the rooftop. Just what the hell was this man? I kept running; down streets and alleyways, sprinting the entire way for what felt like forever. Just as I caught my breath, I looked on the rooftops to see I was safe. I breathed a sigh of relief until I felt something make a shallow slice on my cheek. It was his scythe, which could be used as a long-range weapon, just like I predicted. I looked back and what I saw froze me, what the hell was he doing?

"You see, this is why you should have came easily, now I get to show you the might of JASHIN!" Yelled the man, as he licked my blood off of his scythe. Just now, I noticed that he was standing in a circle made of blood with a triangle inside of it. As he licked my blood, his skin turned black, with white lines where his bones should be. Wild magenta eyes filled with happiness, he pulled out his scythe and made a nasty cut on the back of his right heel. Immediately, my right heel was cut open, in the exact same way his was, but with no sign of what had cut it! My eyes looked wildly at the man, and now he was in front of me.

"You know, this could have been much easier. You could have listened to what I was going to say. Well, I guess you'll get filled in when we get to base." The man said, as I felt him hit a pressure point. After that, the world went black…

**Kakuzu's POV**

"Kakuzu, how do you think Hidan will do? **Will the idiot screw it up?** Hidan isn't an idiot… **You're right; he's a raving fool who's going to get himself in a horrible situation one day. **I guess I can't argue with the last part…" Zetsu said/asked. I looked up from the magazine I was reading in, I noticed Zetsu seemed a little bit worried.

"Hidan is a complete fool. He raves about his religion and calls everything other than his babbling a heathen. He considers money to be a setback in the Akatsuki's cause. Whenever he gets into a fight he either drags it out with his rituals or needs my help. That being said, he will succeed." I remembered that the Rikudo Sennin's note had left a hint that the future Nibi Jinchuriki would be much like the Jinchuriki from our world. Hidan and myself were really the best choices for hunting down Nii Yugito.

Sasori and Deidara were both long-range fighters, despite their proficiency at close quarters. Kisame's chakra draining abilities would be good, but Yugito could easily steer clear of his giant sword's strikes, due to its weight. Itachi's genjutsu would be incredibly useful, but Bijuu chakra might be able to overrun it, and an already fast Jinchuriki enhanced by Bijuu chakra might just be too fast. I have five chakra natures through my hearts, and I can exploit my idiot of a partner's immortality. Hidan only needs one drop of her blood to turn a battle into a cat playing with a mouse. Ironic, considering the future Nibi no Nekomata Jinchuriki would be the mouse in this situation.

"Do you really have that much confidence in him, Kakuzu? **This IS Hidan we're talking about.**" Zetsu asked, completely taken aback by my confidence in the zealot. Only before the mission, I had dragged Hidan in to get information from Zetsu.

"You gave the idiot all the information he needs, Zetsu. Even Hidan can do his job when you give him enough instructions. Plus, do you really think he'd rather be in this world rather than sacrificing some civilians inside of the hideout?" Zetsu thought my words over and believed them. Zetsu's eyes widened slightly as he turned towards four o clock.

"Speak of the devil, Kakuzu. He's back, with the future Nibi!" I shrugged and returned to my magazine. There had to be some way to get money in this world, and as the Akatsuki treasurer, that was my job. I should really get a raise.

**Pein's POV**

Konan and I were finalized our plans when we heard loud stomping coming into our office. Konan and I exchanged eye contact and made a quick bet. She thought it would be Deidara ranting about Sasori, or the noise was somehow Deidara's fault, I bet it was Hidan coming back. Our curiosity came to a halt as Hidan kicked the door down with a young woman over his shoulder. I discretely placed my hand under the table and felt Konan place fifty ryo in my hand. Hiding the small smile that threatened to make itself known, I looked at Hidan.

"This is the future Nibi?" Hidan nodded. "What is her name?" I asked, and wasn't surprised to see Hidan shrug.

"Who cares? I completed my task, now can I sacrifice people to Jashin-sama?" I shrugged and rubbed my eyes. Hidan somehow made me exasperated before I even stated the issues with this situation.

"No, Hidan. You firstly have to set up your room. Until her sealing, you will share a room with your quarry. When the time comes, you may have to teach the future Nibi. Also, you should get her leg healed." Said I, noticing the nasty gash on her right heel. Almost as soon as I noticed this, Konan put a hand over her mouth and laid her on the desk, quickly using her knowledge of medical ninjutsu. Despite the fact that Konan wasn't a healer by nature, she picked up bits and pieces of medical know-how from all the times Yahiko and myself had gotten injured over the years.

As Konan finished the bandaging on the girl, she fluttered her eyelids and awoke. Naturally, after she had a moment to realize what had happened to her, she started trying to push us away. I wasn't worried one bit; after all, I had chakra rods that I could easily stick into her if she was too aggressive. Before I even thought of going to those measures, Konan quickly placed a finger to her lips and gave the frightened girl a motherly hug.

"Shh, Shhh, if you keep struggling like that, the bandages will come undone. That was a nasty gash Hidan gave you, and you've lost enough blood as it is." Konan's voice brought reason to the girl's ears, as her eyes opened and she looked at her right heel, which was carefully bandaged.

"Who… who…. Are you?" The girl asked, and Konan stepped to her side as I stood in front of her.

"We are the Akatsuki. You are going to have a great power sealed inside of you, it's called the Nibi no Nekomata. Before your sealing, you will stick to Hidan," I pointed to Hidan and she immediately recoiled, looking like a cat disgusted by its food, "and after that, you will stick around until we get more information about our mission."

"Why do I have to be with that one!?" Asked the girl, clearly angry. "He cut my leg open and kidnapped me! He didn't even tell me what you guys need me for!" I rubbed my eyes again. At this rate, Hidan would shorten my lifespan with the amount of stress he caused me. I looked at Hidan again, and held my hand towards him. I nodded to Konan who grabbed the girl and moved her farther away from my range.

"**_Shinra Tensei!"_**Hidan's body slammed into the wall of my office, knocking him out.

"Does that make things better?" I asked, looking towards the girl. She nodded, and Konan smiled.

"Leader-sama can keep Hidan in check, don't worry. What's your name and age?" Konan asked, in her motherly tone. Inside, I smiled again. Konan really was the best diplomat out of all of us.

"C-Cassandra… I-I'm sixteen years old..." Said the girl, still slightly alarmed by my power. Konan lead the girl out of the room, and went to Hidan's office/room. I knew Konan would set up sleeping arrangements for the girl, and probably set up some sort of trap to stop Hidan from doing something stupid. Knowing I most certainly did not want Hidan in my office when he woke up and went on a rampage. Using my ring, I contacted Kakuzu, who showed up a few seconds later.

"You want the idiot in his room?" I nodded, grateful for Kakuzu's intuition. He sighed and dragged Hidan by his head out of my office. Sasori, Kisame, and now Hidan had returned. It was time for the next three to go. Before I sent them out, however, I needed some miracle for my headaches to go away.

**Author's note (End):**

**Kisame's chapter is next, and the reason I said that he had already come back is that he had taken less time to capture his target. Look forward to the next chapter, I know that this next one will be my personal favorite!**

**Favorite, Follow, Review, but most importantly: Enjoy. **

**~KingsOfSarutobi**


	5. Chapter 5: The Wind Stylist Emerges!

**Author's note:**

**Thanks to **Arcami **and **princessbinas **for reviewing, especially b/c one of those reviews helped me fix an error with a previous chapter. Thanks ^_^**

**_To _**Arcami**: I intend to do something with Zetsu; I know exactly what you're talking about. I think you've got the wrong idea on the first part, however. The nine won't be sealed in a way similar to the extraction process; it's more of turning them into Jinchuriki: a bit of a reversal of the Akatsuki's job, if that makes more sense. I don't intend for many of the OCs to know each other before all nine of them get involved in some way. **

**When I first started thinking about writing a fanfiction, I already had the plot for this chapter in my head, and I've been refining it for weeks. This character has a little bit of founding based on my own experiences and philosophy, the rest**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Naruto except for my OCs. I do not own the Naruto Wiki or the Villains Wiki.**

**Dan's POV**

"Dan, Dan, Dan, aren't they so cool? I mean, Yahiko can manipulate water, Nagato can create crazy windstorms from putting his hands together, and Konan can make anything out of paper! And their teacher can make hallways into frog bellies and make a giant lava thing and enter SAGE MODE! Isn't that amazing, Dan? Well? ISN'T IT?" Asked the hyperactive teenager sitting next to me, pointing at his computer screen.

"Uh, yeah, I guess it is cool?" I asked, still trying to store all of the information Tom yelled in my ear. Tom had been my friend for a long time, but after I started to grow up a little, his antics more overwhelmed me than anything. After looking at Tom's new decorations for his room, I shouldn't have been surprised. Posters of the Naruto characters decorated the walls. Some were labeled "Kakashi", others were labeled "Naruto", "Nagato", "Jiraiya", "Minato", and quite a few were labeled "Temari". The walls and ceiling of his room were plastered with these posters everywhere. The once blue walls were forever hidden underneath innumerable Naruto posters. Looking outside of the window, I noticed that Tom had his hands clapped together and was yelling "**_Futon: Reppusho!"_** as if he was expecting something to happen.

"Dan, you should try it. You just clap your hands together and yell '**_Futon: Reppusho_**'!" I sighed

"You know, Tom, I don't think anything will happen…" Knowing Tom, he would continue persisting until I finally cracked to the pressure. "Fine." I clapped my hands together, and after filling my lungs with air, yelled the technique's name. I didn't expect to feel energy coursing through my veins as I yelled the technique's name.

"**_Futon: Reppusho!"_** I yelled, closing my eyes as I felt a powerful swarm of hurricane speed winds surrounding me. As I un-clapped my hands, I noticed two things about the room. Firstly, Tom's chair had been knocked over by the wind and he was now sitting on the floor. Secondly, I still felt that energy coursing through me, but not being exerted, rather more of a dormant energy now.

"DANDANDANDANDANDANDANDANDAN YOU CAN USE CHAKRA DANDANDANANDAN!" I had about a second at maximum before I felt my shoulders being violently shaken in all directions by my goofball of a friend. Roughly putting pressure on a point on each of his arms, I felt the shaking stop as his arms went numb. Catching my breath, I started talking

"Don't… say… a… word…" I waited until my breath had returned before speaking again. From Tom's lecturing, I had gotten a basic idea of what "chakra" is. It had five elements, and when people were born with two at once, it resulted in a "kekkei genkai", some type of new, advanced technique. All "jutsu", or techniques, are performed with different hand seal combinations.

"What if you used them on people from school, like bullies and stuff?" Tom asked, still excited about all the possible uses of my talent.

"You don't think I can handle them now?" One of the reasons I fought as much as I did was because of all the hidden weapons inside of compartments I added to my sweatshirt. Anything and everything from throwing needles covered in a light poison to homemade smoke bombs ensured I was well prepared in a fight. My cautiousness bordering on paranoia was another part of my training. I had trained my ears to identify when someone was approaching based on footsteps, and also had started to understand the vague distances a person was depending on sound. The distance someone was from me may seem a rather tedious concept, but better to be paranoid than ambushed.

"Think of it this way, Tom: if I get attacked by your evil twin and somehow all of my hidden tools are useless, consider it a secret weapon." Tom's eyes widened, and I knew the image in his head. The Tom I was a friend with was not the only Tom in my grade. The slightly scrawny, hyperactive Tom was exceptionally different from the big, immensely strong, and popular Tom who I had made my enemy on day one of my freshman year. As he kept seeking out fights with me all throughout my freshman year (which I would have lost spectacularly had I played fair) and into this one, my sophomore year, I knew I had to even the playing field.

As last year progressed, I toyed with various tricks to make his fighting less powerful against mine. Rigging a mutually agreed fighting space with tripwires, wrapping rope on my hands and forearms to give them extra protection and fighting capability, even wearing dark clothing for a night fight to make my moves harder to detect. All of those tactics my enemy Tom had declared 'cheating', or 'unfair'. If I hadn't had those tricks, however, I wouldn't have had a ghost of a chance of beating the behemoth I had made my rival.

I knew my friend Tom was going over all the possibilities of how I could use that jutsu against my enemy, a wild grin going across his face. Looking out of the window, I saw that my mom had her car parked across the street, clearly waiting for me. Although I wasn't too happy to leave, I knew that I had to refresh my supplies.

"Well, it looks like my mom's here. See you at school tomorrow!" I said, walking out of his house. I decided it would be time to check my inventory before school – I never knew what would be lurking in wait for me when I arrived tomorrow.

**_Half an hour later_**

I entered the laboratory/storage area I had made out of my basement. My sweatshirt had four hidden compartments plus my mask. My mask was hidden in the hood of the sweatshirt, but there were secret compartments in my sweatshirt's sleeves at the wrists, another two were on the outside of my sweatshirt at my elbows, plus two more at my collarbone and two more at my sides. As for what I could bring with me tomorrow, the possibilities were infinite. I had manually stitched in the compartments, and quadruple checked them for invisibility. The first thing I grabbed were my throwing needles, placing them at my elbow compartments. All my needles were dipped in a solution I created in order to knock my enemies out. The quickest way to end a fight with Tom or one of his goons was simply to throw the needles and dodge for a couple minutes. Hand-made smoke bombs were inside my wrist compartments. In the chest compartments on my side I left small spikes made from thumbtacks. If anyone tried punching me in my sides where my ribs couldn't protect me, they would end up with a bloody fist. As for the ones on my collarbone, I didn't know what to bring, so I placed a couple of stink bombs. It couldn't hurt to prank or get revenge if something got sour. Even though I brought all these precautions, I surely wouldn't need them. After all, nothing could go wrong. Probably.

**_The Next Day… _**

As I walked up to school, I knew from the moment I saw Tom's group of friends standing in a huddle. There would be a fight today. Groaning, I decided to walk around the other side; knowing that my first class of the day had a large window the teacher could, and had open for me. Before I turned the corner to walk around the back, I noticed that a girl was staring at me.

'_Jessica._' I thought. She rarely talked around me, or even did anything to divulge her character. I liked her a ton, but whenever I was around, she would give me the same stare. The worst part was that the stare would always be the exact same, and it was different than when anyone else would look at me. It wasn't adoration, or hate, or fear. It was unreadable, and it ticked me off to no end.

Walking around the corner was nice: no one was around, so I could enjoy peace, silence, and time to plan for the future. Closing my eyes to enjoy my silence, I heard two sets of footsteps where there should only be one. What's more, the new set of footsteps were about ten or fifteen feet behind me, and doing a very good job at matching my footsteps. Obviously, my follower was trying to remain undetected, and almost succeeded.

I knew that I had to be very discreet about my method of identifying my target. Turning around or breaking into a sprint would get me nowhere with an unknown enemy. I had read plenty of books, fiction and nonfiction. One of them surely had information somewhere about identifying an enemy without directly looking behind me, right? Closing my eyes but keeping my pace, I went through about ten possibilities before I realized my strategy. Keeping my movements as natural as I could, I pulled out my phone and angled it so I could see my follower. What I saw was not anything I expected.

The man was tall, much taller than a normal human being. Hair was pointing up, and looked to be a dark blue color? Small, beady eyes that looked like they belonged on a fish, on top of scaly-looking gray skin. Three scars that looked like gills were on each side of his face, and I noticed a headband of sorts with a metal plate on his forehead. His cloak was black, and went up to his jawline. I noticed what looked like red splotches on it, but they were far too stylized. Too stylized for blood, so what were they? Focusing in on one splotch, the only thing I could think of was a cloud. Putting my phone away, I decided to stall for time. Seeing the window left open for me by my teacher, I smiled. I would just need a small burst of energy to sprint and jump into the window. I had a perfect opportunity. Taking two more steps in an attempt to fool my follower, I sprinted over towards the window. The jump into the window was all or nothing. Safely get into class or be in the hands of who knows what. I jumped and went through the open window, landed safely, and turned around. The man was now right in front of me. Luckily, I heard the bell ring and students start filing around in the hallways outside. I smirked at my follower, knowing I had won the first round. The man in turn gave a grin with pointed teeth and told me a quiet message before leaving.

"Very good, boy. I think you've earned my attention. Hehehe." Before he left however, I noticed a large bandaged weapon on his back. Keeping all the mental notes, I decided that during lunch I would look up information about my attacker, if any yielded itself.

First class was History, which I enjoyed to no end. I was (and still am) a complete history nerd, who enjoyed everything from the cultures and wars of the ancient Greeks and Romans up to studies of more recent warfare, such as the first and second World Wars, along with other 19th and 20th century history. After my glorious hour of History was done, I headed off to Chemistry. The teacher in this class had once observed my aggressors picking a fight with me and meeting unfortunate opposition in the form of my smoke and pepper bombs. After seeing similar results each time, he simply gave me a couple books and told me to start experimenting until I was able to defend myself properly. After seeing the development of my throwing needles, blow darts, and even sleeping gas, he decided to simply let me mix chemicals in the back to my heart's content, and as long as I produced results and wrote reports on them and their uses, I got a good grade.

At lunch, I simply took off to the library and opened up my backpack. Pulling out my laptop I quickly found a wifi network to connect to and opened up my browser. Going on my search browser, I searched "black cloak with red clouds"* and it came up with a few fanfiction entries, but scrolling down, I found one article named "Kisame Hoshigaki". After clicking on the URL, I found several pictures of my follower, and returned to my search browser and looked up "Kisame Hoshigaki". Clicking on the first link, I realized it was the Naruto Wikipedia.

I looked up all the details on him, and felt a slight chill down my spine. I recognized various terms Tom had talked about. Kisame was known as the 'Tailless Tailed Beast', whose chakra rivaled that of the main character, Naruto. Kisame's sword drained chakra, and he had the potential to create extremely giant water based jutsu. My odds against this guy were going down every second I read about his abilities. When I looked at the pictures of the scale of his jutsu, I knew that the **_Futon: Reppusho_** wouldn't be enough to stop Kisame. I knew I would have to master a new technique, if I had any chance against him. Looking around, I remembered that his chakra rivaled the main character, Naruto's.

Clicking on the link to Naruto's page, I looked at all his Jutsu. I was astounded by all of his chakra natures. He had wind, lava, magnet, fire, earth, water, and yang releases! I looked through numerous jutsu that I knew I had no hopes of mastering until I ran into the **_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu._** 'Perhaps I can learn this and stall him with a clone…?' I thought, and was pleasantly surprised to see that only one hand seal was required. Knowing I had thirty minutes, I made my way to an unused classroom and started practicing my new technique.

**_Three hours later_**

Walking out of school with my new technique memorized, I deliberately chose the path off of the main road. I could walk to my house through the forest right next to my school, but it would take about half an hour. Looking around, however, I saw the last person I wanted to fight right now. Tom. Luckily, he had come alone, so this wouldn't take too long. Grabbing one of my elbows discretely, I grabbed a few of my needles and turned towards Tom, keeping my needles hidden.

"You won't be winning today, Danny Boy!" Tom yelled, charging at me. I quickly sidestepped so I was behind him to his left, and jammed one needle in his upper arm, another two in his elbow and lower arm. I simply walked away, knowing the chemicals that the needles were dipped in would knock him out for about two hours. That was certainly more than enough time for his goons to find him.

Now that I had dealt with him, it was time to get to the more serious business. If I could get one or two shadow clones wandering the woods to stall Kisame for enough time, I might be able to escape to my house.

"**_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_**" I yelled, watching two clones appear beside me. I guessed that my chakra reserves had enough for maybe an hour each. No more. Something I was happy about was that when a clone was dispersed, all of its memories and experiences would return to me. Therefore, if Kisame attacked a clone and it dispelled, I would be ready. Moving on the path, I saw a tri-forked path. This was where Kisame would have to find me.

Only two or three minutes of waiting later, Kisame walked out from the school towards where my two dopplegangers and I were.

"So, you learned the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, eh?" Kisame continued walking towards me, intent on talking.

"I intend to bring you back to base, but I also would rather have you come along willingly. Things will be much more painful otherwise." Kisame said while letting out a sharky laugh.

"Sorry, but I don't intend to be captured anytime soon, Hoshigaki Kisame." I said, keeping my eyes out for his reaction. As I mentioned his name, Kisame looked over towards me with one eyebrow raised.

"So, the brat knows about me even in a different universe? Looks like there's no option of you leaving now, looks like there's some Intel you have to spill." Kisame said, grinning again. I knew that Kisame would waste no time, my clones and I pulled smoke bombs out of my secret compartments and immediately used them. Kisame looked around, and we nervously threw our reserve needles at him, and then took off to our respective paths. We hoped that Kisame would at least take a minute or two getting the needles out of him. When I looked back, the only thing I saw was Kisame grinning as he watched my clones and I fled.

**_Kage Bunshin (Right)_**

I was running towards a large pond I knew Kisame would get across in order to get me. Luckily, I managed to get all the way across the pond, where there was another trail that could lead to home. My goal, however, was not to get to home. My goal was to stall Kisame for time. Running around to the other side of the pond, I quickly caught my breath. The instant I saw Kisame I knew the fight would turn very bad, very fast. The former Kiriagakure shinobi was walking across the water, one hand on Samehada, strolling as if nothing mattered in the world.

"Well, I must say that hunting down the clones first will make the original's panic very, very real." Said Kisame, laughing. I readied my hands in position for the Reppusho, even though I knew it would be a weak version of the original with my chakra split into three parts.

**_"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"_** Kisame yelled as the normally calm waters of the pond turned into a raging dragon. My eyes widened as it charged towards me.

"**_Fuuton: Reppusho!"_** I yelled, clapping my hands together. The matchup was pathetic. The water dragon tore through the winds stirred up by the Gale Palm and smashed into me, dispelling me on the spot. My last thought was a plea for my other clone and original to be safe.

**_Kage Bunshin (Center):_**

I received the memories of my predecessor clone and increased my pace. If Kisame's words had been accurate, I would be his next target, in order to scare original. Luckily, the original and myself now had two small advantages from where we were a minute ago. Firstly, the chakra from the clone that had been dispersed returned to original and myself, and we both knew Kisame's position. Unfortunately for me, Kisame emerged a couple minutes later, walking from the bushes. His sword was held lazily in one hand as he waited to see my reaction. I knew that my best option was to fight in conditions that wouldn't suit his large stature or his giant blade.

Sprinting into the woods off of the path, I knew that I had to avoid going to my immediate left, to draw Kisame as far away from original as I could. That wasn't enough, however, to stop Kisame from knowing I was a clone and skewering me with kunai. Oh well, at least I had bought a minute or two for original, and now my unused chakra would go to him as well.

**_Dan's POV (Left)_**

I received the thoughts of my clone and groaned, picking up the pace. Sprinting through the forest, I knew that if I could throw off Kisame's estimates of where I was currently at I could buy more time. However, I knew full well that the odds of escaping such a dangerous and talented foe were close to zero. As I was sprinting, I moved into a slightly more open part of the path. Taking the immediate chance to move to the left side of the path, I looked to my right to see Kisame flying through the air at me with his sword in hand, ready to swing. The only thought in my head before I tried to duck the monstrosity known as Samehada was 'you've gotta be fucking kidding me.'

Luckily, I managed to duck Samehada, only for Kisame's foot to kick me into a tree. Despite being in a bad situation, I still managed to grab some needles and throw them at my target. All of the needles landed inside his sword, which Kisame growled at. As Kisame placed his sword on me to stop my movement, I remembered something I read about his sword from the page about him– it drained chakra. Realizing this, I grabbed another few needles and jammed them into the sword itself, which caused it to flinch away for a split second. After this happened, I quickly got to my feet, but was too late to react. Kisame's sword slashed many gashes into my chest and arms. Following this, he grabbed me and threw me on the ground.

Exhausted, with all my chakra drained, I realized just how tired I was. Frowning, I thought of the greatest regret of being captured by Kisame. Who knew if I would return alive?

**_Kisame's POV_**

I looked down at my quarry, bleeding and unconscious. I realized I had never found out how the kid knew so much about jutsu, or how he had known my name. I gave my usual grin, this time it was mostly without malice. Perhaps this brat was worth something after all. But looking up at the sky, I saw it would rain in about an hour. I sighed, picking up my unconscious prey and throwing him over my shoulder. I had to get back to base before I soaked my robes. Who knows, maybe I would get light shed on the wonders of today's adventure.

**Author's note: End  
*This is an actual search term I tried, and it yielded the actual results said in this chapter.**

**Also, for those who don't know, what Dan's labeling as "Throwing needles" are actually Senbon, but he doesn't know what they're actually called. He'll become more proficient with various areas soon enough.**

**Review, favorite, follow. Helps me become a better author, which in turn gives you guys better chapters - a complete win-win!**

**Anyone have a guess about Dan's greatest regret about being captured? I already know what it is, but I'm curious what everyone else thinks ****:D**

**PS: This is the longest chapter to date, with 4100 words!**

**Jutsu used:**

**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone Jutsu**

**Users: (The list of people who use this technique is absolutely enormous, I'm not going to put it here. Look it up on the wiki.)**

**Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu – Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique**

**Users: Kakashi Hatake, Tobirama Senju, Zabuza Momochi, Mei Terumi, Kabuto Yakushi, Itachi Uchiha.**

**Fuuton: Reppusho – Wind Style: Gale Palm**

**Users: Nagato**


	6. Chapter 6: Mission of a Weasel

**Author's note: Rather than being a simple Akatsuki &amp; future Jinchuriki chase like the last three chapters, I'm hoping to add some different elements, like what's happening at base, developments in jutsu or knowledge, or even some simple dialogues between the three captured targets and the Akatsuki. I will, however, dedicate enough of the chapter for the missions of the Akatsuki.**

**Replies:**

princessbinas: **Yes, things got very crazy. They'll only get more hectic with more OCs and Akatsuki headaches, no? :D **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or techniques from the Naruto series, I only own my Original Characters and Original Techniques.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**_Third Person POV_**

Pein stood up, finishing the mission reports from the tasks he gave to three of his subordinates. Sasori had willingly gotten his charge to come along with him; Hidan had royally screwed up but was pardoned by Konan's ability to make people feel safe, and Kisame's charge was far too cunning and possessed knowledge of chakra and several jutsu, one of them a once-used creation of Pein himself! Unfortunately, no intelligence could be collected from the boy, due to the damage Kisame had wrought on the boy's body. Kisame's "prey's" status was very severe: several broken ribs, a concussion, slower healing capabilities due to chakra exhaustion, the list went on, and on, and on.

The biggest thing Pein didn't understand was how Kisame's target knew the Gale Palm – a technique Jiraiya and Pein had come up with while he was still one of the Ame Orphans being taught ninjutsu by Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin. Pein looked out of his office as the first lights of the day started breaking apart night's hold on the world. Pein sighed, he had been working all night trying to find out how the brat knew a technique that no one should know, let alone no one in this world! The third Sage of Six Paths looked around his room, and went to his office to get some sleep. Konan would kill him if he didn't take care of himself.

**_In another room…_**

Dan opened his eyes, not knowing where he was or why his body felt like it had been thrown down the rocky side of a cliff. Even before he opened his eyes, he knew he wasn't in his home. Dan also knew that the bandages around him weren't for minor injuries. Making as little movement as he could, he looked to his left and his right. The room appeared to be a makeshift hospital room, with several beds, Several IVs, and a myriad of medical equipment. He saw a girl in the bed to his right, with long blonde hair and a well-wrapped ankle. Had she gone through the same thing he had? I noticed outside of my door some people were talking about the security of the office. Perhaps I could knock out two birds with one stone by gaining and ally and getting info?

**_Itachi's POV_**

Konan, and Deidara and myself found us being summoned to Leader's office via Zetsu, who said he had information about three more future Jinchuriki. I knew why Leader-sama was sending people out in groups of threes. By splitting up Akatsuki pairs, Leader-sama ensured that he would always have six people keeping a garrison at base, and as each person would have a target, they would keep an eye on said target once they arrived at base. Also, should one member encounter resistance, the partner of the distressed member would be free to assist in the future Jinchuriki capture, leaving another Akatsuki member to watch the target if needed.

Upon arriving in Leader's office, the three of us noticed Zetsu and Leader both had their eyes closed in concentration. I knew that Leader was a sensory type Shinobi, and Zetsu's abilities with chakra were beyond the capabilities of any other being I knew. While Leader was probably a sensory type naturally, Zetsu, along with his ability to phase in and out of natural objects, seemed to be _created _for such a purpose. I also believed that Madara was the one who knows of Zetsu's origins. I knew that Madara was not with us, and that Pein had assumed actual control of the Akatsuki for the first time in my memory.

Remembering the information I obtained when Kisame and I were first assigned to the Yonbi, I remembered one concept that stood out, surpassing the rest: the Yoton. Yoton, or Lava Release shinobi existed all over the place, with several clans claiming different uses of Yoton. There was a clan in Kumogakure who could manipulate it into a rubbery substance, one of the two clans the Godaime Mizukage is descended from use a liquid-based Yoton, and there was the Iwagakure Yoton. The Iwagakure Yoton was special not only because of its more solid properties, but because it could turn itself into quicklime, an only slightly uncommon kekkei genkai which even yielded users in other nations, such as Amegakure.

Snapping out of my moment of thought, I quickly paid attention to what Leader was going to say.

"Itachi, the future Yonbi's chakra is flaring in the same way many Iwagakure Yoton users do. I suspect the Rikudo Sennin gave the Kekkei Genkai of the Yonbi this one. There is no telling what abilities this person may use. Go two hundred meters towards six o clock, the person is on ground level." I knew that due to this being another world, no one would recognize me, so I could probably wear my Akatsuki robes, right? Not listening to Zetsu's instructions for Deidara and Konan, I quickly moved to the roof of the Akatsuki's office/base. I knew that in this world, without the Akatsuki, Madara could not fulfill his plans. At least by making new Jinchuriki I could buy more time to help Konoha. I started jumping from roof to roof until I was at least 150 meters from base, then I looked down to see if anyone had a chakra signature my Sharingan could see.

My eyes fell on three girls, probably around the same age or a little bit younger than Sasuke is now. My foolish little Otuoto… The one in the center had red hair, the one on the left had long, straight black hair, and the one on the right had short brown hair. I knew that I couldn't simply drop down, grab the one with the chakra signature and run, so I decided to use my Kekkei Genkai to my advantage.

'_Remember Itachi, the Sharingan is broken into two parts: the Dosatsugan and the Saimingan. With this you can copy ninjutsu, see the chakra flows of anyone around you, and use the Saimingan ability to cast genjutsu on your opponent.' _This was the teaching my father gave me about the Sharingan when I first unlocked it at age eight. Starting off the mission, I noted that the redhead was talking to the one with short brown hair, so I decided to start by getting rid of the black haired one. Dropping to the ground, I grabbed a pebble, and threw it directly at the back of her knee. Hitting it, she turned around slightly to see who her attacker was, and my genjutsu immediately took effect.

"Hey, I think I have to go now, my mom has an appointment and has to pick me up." She said, breaking off from the other two, who never tried to validate what she had said. Grabbing her, I flew into the air and placed her on the roof of a building and used a sleeping and memory removal genjutsu on her, and hopefully she would be safe due to my actions. I could easily cast a genjutsu on two people, so I decided to make myself revealed. I had a suspicion that I could get away with the genjutsu, and someone with the foresight and ability to annihilate the Uchiha clan, defeat Orochimaru, and plan to give Sasuke the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan must be right.

Jumping down to the street, the two girls looked at me, almost fifty feet away. Looking into the eyes of the brown haired one, I used a sleeping genjutsu on her and she quickly passed out. The redhead looked at me as I approached, as I used an invisible genjutsu to ensure privacy in conversation.

**_In the Genjutsu…_**

"EEEEP IT'S ITACHI UCHIHAAAAAA" Said the redhead as she tried glomping me. In response, I simply held up my hand and she froze in midair. In my genjutsu, I control all, and have any abilities I could ever want.

"You are coming with me, miss…" I trailed off, hoping she would fill in her name.

"Clara." She said, supplying her name readily.

"Well, Clara-san, you will be coming with me. My organization has a need for your assistance." I said, and to my surprise, her eyes widened in happiness.

"The AKATSUKI need MY assistance? Whaddaya need help with, Uchiha no Danna?" Well, it seemed that the girl not only knew my name, but copied the quirks of two Akatsuki members, one of which was constantly plotting my demise. Then I realized something and my eyes widened, not only Kisame's target but this one too? How many people knew about the Akatsuki here? I knew, however, that all information could be extracted from the both of them at base. My mission was to collect the future Jinchuriki and return to base in a speedy manner. I had no intent of failing.

"You will have the Yonbi no Saru sealed inside of you to fulfill a mission given to us by the Rikudo Sennin, who sent us into this world." Her mouth dropped and made a perfect 'O' of shock. Numbly, she nodded and I was surprised.

"That was an awfully quick decision…" I said, completely confused as to why she would willingly choose being a Jinchuriki.

"The Yonbi has Yoton, right? The Lava Release?" She asked, energetic and staring at me again. I nodded mutely and spoke my command.

"When I end this genjutsu, hop on my back so we can get to base faster. If you try to run, I'll simply place you in a sleep genjutsu like I did to your friends and bring you along." She shrugged and waited for me to break it. Walking over to her, I poked her forehead like I would do with Sasuke and the invisible genjutsu broke. Turning around, I felt her immediately jump on me. 'Quite the energetic one we've got here…' I thought, remembering how energetic Sasuke was before _that_ mission. The mission that changed us from brothers to enemies. Sighing, I made sure the girl wouldn't fall off and leapt off. It was time to finish my mission.

**_Dan's POV_**

I was tired, but at least had retained consciousness for a half hour, I didn't know how long exactly. Grabbing a pencil with the arm that didn't hurt, I threw it at the sleeping girl next to me. As the pencil hit her ear, her eyes opened and she glared at me. She had a cold stare, which I could see clearly despite the darkness of the room. Her eyes also had a gleam of rebellion from what I could see, proving my hypothesis right. She didn't want to be here any more than I did. Perhaps we could work together and escape?

**_Cassandra's POV_**

The idiot next to me started leaning closer, and judging by his injuries, he couldn't do anything to me if he tried, even with my injury. I noticed he was opening his mouth as he leaned in towards my ear, it was clear he wanted to talk about something. It had better be a relevant topic, or else…

"Do you want to escape this place?" The idiot whispered hoarsely.

"Of course I do, who wouldn't?" I said, but quieted down as he raised one finger to his mouth. We didn't know if we were being watched, after all.

"I think if we work together we might be able to find a way out of here. I've been overhearing the members talking about their security and it seems that if we catch them at the right moment we'll be able to escape. They have no security cameras, and both the elevator and staircase are useless." He said, and I quickly thought to myself 'How on earth are we going to escape then?' I quickly asked him that very question and he took a second before answering.

"Lemme see if I can explain this using my phone…" He quickly checked to make sure no one was watching and pulled out his phone. Typing in a few things he handed it over to me and I found myself on a page about "Chakra". After reading the basics, I gave him a confused look and he typed in the word "Akatsuki" as a search term. Looking at the picture, I gasped. I recognized some of these people: the nice woman with blue hair, the frightening ring-eyed pierced man, and the evil, silver haired, logic breaking demon.

"These people use chakra too, and if we can manipulate chakra in the right way, we might be able to escape on the side of the building." I looked at him, half expecting him to say he was joking. When he didn't, I looked at him questioningly, waiting for another explanation. The boy took a deep breath, and I could feel a massive strategic speech was coming.

**_Itachi's POV_**

I entered base with the future Yonbi looking at everything, and more than once I had to stop her from tackling the other Akatsuki members like she did with me. Somehow, I don't think Sasori's temper or Kisame's reflexes would be very good for her to toy with. Looking at her with my Mangekyou Sharingan active, she quickly got the message and followed me into Leader-sama's office. As he, Kakuzu, and Zetsu were doing paperwork (Konan, who usually helped him, was gone), I walked up to his desk with my target and we both took seats. Pein looked up and addressed us both.

"Excellent job, Itachi. Is there anything to note?" Pein asked, looking at the girl and me.

"Yes, Leader-sama. Clara-san, like Kisame's target, knows about the Akatsuki. She addressed me by name and called me 'Uchiha no Danna', which is an honorary I've only seen Deidara-san use towards Sasori-san. Clara-san also knows information to some degree about the Yonbi no Saru, and was totally unsurprised by shinobi leaping. Considering her enthusiasm about helping the Akatsuki, she'll probably give some information about why people know about us." I said, noticing that Zetsu and Kakuzu had stopped doing their paperwork and eyed Clara in curiosity.

"Leader-sama, I'm more than willing to give information, but could I please feel Kakuzu's hearts and strings, plus feel Zetsu's hair and plant thing?" Kakuzu and Zetsu were by now quite curious about Clara: most people were disgusted by Kakuzu's hearts and tentacles, plus no one in the Akatsuki associated with the plant man very much. After Pein observed her for a few seconds, and looked at me, I gave a discreet nod no one could see. Pein nodded and motioned towards Zetsu and Kakuzu. Clara let out a slight giggle and walked over to the two, first feeling Zetsu's Venus flytrap before looking inside of it and eventually feeling Zetsu's hair.

"I expected it to feel like a fern of some sort, or hair, but it feels nice, like grass in the morning. And the flytrap looks so cool! Why don't more people like you, Zetsu?" She asked, clearly oblivious to Black Zetsu's suspicious glance and White Zetsu's slight blush as he looked towards the ground. Clara promptly pulled down the back of Kakuzu's cloak as he scrunched up his face in concentration. My lips twitched up in a smirk, I could only imagine how many times Kakuzu was saying to himself 'Killing her will cost my money. Killing her will cost me money,' inside of his head. She once again giggled in delight and felt the strings in Kakuzu's arms. After about a minute of playing around with them, she walked back down to her seat after bowing low to Zetsu, Kakuzu, and Leader himself.

"Well, there was once a man named Kishimoto Masashi…" (**A/N: I'm not going to write the plot of the entire series so far, considering you can imagine the jist of it. I'm just going to skip ahead to everyone's reactions) **

"So, Clara, you are saying that in this world there is a manga about the world we came from, and it foretells our deaths." Said Pein, after a minute of silence.

"Well, I would say yes, but there are two things I'd like to say first," Said Clara, collecting her thoughts, "firstly, by coming to this world, and coming with the Bijuu as well, the entire storyline is messed up. Because you already have all the Bijuu and knowledge of the future, the ways some of the members die is irrelevant. Kakuzu-san and Hidan-baka might not lose their fight; Sasori-san and Deidara-san wouldn't get followed back to an Akatsuki hideout, therefore he wouldn't die. In the fight where Deidara dies, he's commanding Tobi, but because Sasori is usually the leader of the duo, things in that battle would go differently. Also, by taking on future Jinchuriki, some of which are likely to support the Akatsuki to a degree, both the danger and the motives of the Akatsuki are thrown on their heads!" Said Clara, earning a nod of respect from Pein, and a note of respect inside of my head as well. I also noticed that she hadn't detailed the deaths of Kisame, Leader, Konan, Zetsu, or myself. I decided I would ask her on my own time, perhaps she didn't want to say in front of one of us.

"Itachi-san, set up sleeping quarters for yourself and Clara-san here. I'd like you to investigate her chakra abilities in the morning." Noticing Clara raising her hand a little, Pein nodded to her.

"Leader-sama, I think Itachi or someone should go to my home and to my friends and use a genjutsu to make it look like I haven't gone missing. Also, if you intend to seal the Ichibi inside of future Jinchuriki first, I'd like to help with the sealing…" We all looked, shocked. The genjutsu part was easy, but why assist in the sealing? She looked at me and explained; "Itachi no Danna may have excellent charka control, but if memory serves me correctly, he doesn't have very high chakra reserves. If the Rikudo Sennin chose me to be a Jinchuriki and created an entirely new chakra network inside of me, he must've made my reserves large enough to help enforce a Bijuu seal. I want to act as an anchor to help keep Danna less exhausted from the sealing." She said, looking at her feet. Pein nodded at her and looked at me, with a look that said 'You are dismissed.

**_Clara's POV_**

As the two of us entered my room/office, we quickly set up a sleeping pad for Itachi and a hammock for me. As he turned off the light, I felt the tiredness of explaining a world's worth of events to Pein catching up with me. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard a question…

"Why would you want to help me?" I opened my eyes and looked at the ceiling, remembering the anime episode where Tobi explained Itachi's life to Sasuke. Despite being one of those eternally happy people who always grins and laughs, no matter what, those episodes always sobered me up. I knew the answer, plain and simple.

"Itachi no Danna, you're dying of an incurable disease, plain and simple. Not only that, you sacrificed everything for your little brother. You tore out every emotion in your soul to save your village, but you valued Sasuke more than that. To extend my thought, you killed every single person because you cared so much about your little brother. You even carefully planned out a perfect way to die, in order to grant Sasuke the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, combining your visual prowess, the skill he's sure to gain from hating you, and the fact that your eyes will never blind him like they're doing to you." Itachi was silent before responding.

"You really were holding back information from Leader-sama. As for Sasuke, he deserves it. He grew up with no information about anything, only to realize his formerly caring older brother had killed everyone, even his own parents, in cold blood. He was driven on a path of vengeance that slowly lead him to go rogue from Konoha, and will only get worse as time goes on."

"Itachi no Danna, Sasuke doesn't deserve a brother as good as the one he's got."

**_Itachi's POV_**

We sat in silence for a good ten minutes or so, and my head was in turmoil. What did she mean by a brother 'as good as the one he's got'? I killed our parents, lied to Sasuke, gave him psychological horror from my Tsukuyomi... I am not a good aniki.

"Danna?" Asked the other voice in the room. "Hey Danna, could you tell me more about Yoton?" In the dark, I smiled, knowing that my authority hadn't been totally undermined by someone as young, if not younger than Sasuke.

"Well, Yoton has three or four forms that vary across the five great nations…" After I finished my ten or fifteen minute long lecture, I noticed the room was totally silent. Was she asleep? Walking across the room to see if she was awake, I noticed a note in her hands. Picking it up, I read:

_Sorry Danna_

_I knew I wasn't going to get to sleep… _

_So I enlisted the help of a lecture on Yoton._

_Thanks for helping me sleep ^_^_

I sighed and rubbed my eyes before walking over to my sleeping pad and falling asleep. My only thought before then was 'I was wrong, looks like my authority was removed a long time ago.'

**Author's note (End): **

**Does anyone else notice that in Canon, Itachi's genjutsu is only called "Saimingan" once and then no one ever calls it that again?**

**Also, I don't think I was focusing as much as I usually do when writing, so sorry if it's not to your liking. Hopefully the scenes with Itachi wasn't too bad, because the super-enthusiastic behavior of Clara will come back to help him in the long run.**

**Also, should I do a databook type thing once I've assembled all 9 OCs to help give descriptions of each one's abilities and what they look like? If anyone remembers, I was thinking about doing a contest for the book cover, and I think six or seven chapters from now I could start holding it. I don't know what the winner will receive, maybe an omake request? I don't know.**


	7. Chapter 7: Two Artists And Two Students!

**Author's note: I've been debating whether or not I should have a filler-like chapter for information about the OCs, if so, the entire chapter will be from one of the Akatsuki's POV as he/she looks at a book of notes from each Akatsuki member. The chapter will probably include theories from the Akatsuki members about their individual OCs, and may be a bit more humorous than other chapters. **

**On a side note, if anyone wants to suggest an idea for either the plotline or an OC, please PM me or add it on the side note of a review. There's no doubt in my mind that once I reach chapters 15-20 or so I'll have a big writers block. Ideas would be very welcome.**

**To **_princessbinas_**: I feel like they would probably go after Itachi or Pein rather than Kakuzu. To be honest, with all the crap that the 91-year-old heart stealer has seen, I don't think bloodstains in his room would bug him. Deidara hates Itachi because of his Sharingan based Genjutsu, and Hidan and Pein just don't mix whatsoever, from what I've seen. However, I may have to use that idea in the future… Quite a nice idea too, I ****might add.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the Naruto Manga or Anime.**

**Enjoy!**

**_An Abandoned Warehouse…_**

The Akatsuki's resident bomber enjoyed nights. During the nighttime in the sky he would always set off his art in the sky, the darkness of the night sky making the explosions even brighter. Deidara looked around, and heard cheering as fireworks went off. The source of them was a roof, so the bomber blew open a new hole in the abandoned warehouse with his new, quieter C1 bombs. With a newfound hole, Deidara looked around at the first floor of the warehouse.

The warehouse was old and dusty, but boxes upon boxes of fireworks were around, and what looked like a firework making station was in the far side of the room. Whatever was going on here with the fireworks was very well planned and executed. The fireworks also ranged in intensity, color, and explosion style. Grinning with approval, Deidara decided to find his target. Looking around, Deidara saw a set of stairs going to the next floor, which was completely unused. What it did have was several large holes; one was just large enough for someone to jump through.

**_Flashback (ch. 2)_**

_For the Akatsuki,_

_One loathes all who boast._

_Two is similar to the Jinchuriki in your world._

_Three is a loner who has an ace up his sleeve._

_Four has the Yonbi's fire for hair._

_Five and Deidara are birds of a feather._

_Six and Three both belonged to the same village, and now Six needs Three._

_Seven could pass for a Senju._

_Eight will stick to the shadows as much as he can._

_Nine is arrogant._

_Also, each one has a chakra nature or Kekkei Genkai, be thankful I made it easy for you._

_Rikudo Sennin_

**_Flashback End_**

Jumping through the hole, Deidara walked outside to find someone lying down, lazily throwing matches to set off canisters he assumed must have been the source of the fireworks. '_Five and Deidara are birds of a feather'_. Deidara grinned, knowing that he had found his charge. Looking around, he saw that the crowd who he had heard was cheering for the firework user as he made art in the sky. Deciding to show off his art with a little prank, Deidara grabbed some clay from the pouch on his hip and started making a bird...

**_Adam's POV_**

I love fireworks. I've been creating fireworks for years on end, ever since my old friend Sam showed me the joys of creating and setting off fireworks, I had gotten numerous requests to do firework shows. Unfortunately, setting off fireworks in a public place wasn't exactly the most legal of actions, so I always had to go out of town to the middle of nowhere to set them off. Luckily, my firework shows are usually worth the hassle of setting them up, because I only hold them once every month or so, and considering I always show them in the place, my crowd continually grows.

I started off with just a few buddies of mine watching as Sam oversaw my progress with firework making. Eventually, he saw I didn't need his help anymore and joined the audience, spreading word to a few of his friends. Over the span of a few months, friends of my friends started coming, and it just expanded from there. My record of people coming was about forty or so, but currently I only had thirty-two. Compared to some of my friends, my life could be called more peaceful than theirs. Some had problems with school, others were constantly getting into trouble, but Sam had gotten the worst luck. Someone who he called 'The Pest' betrayed him and his friends, but got defended by some crazy hunchback. I didn't like the fact that I had to do the firework displays late at night, and I was almost asleep until I was surprised. A small white bird flew in front of my vision, circled around me for a few seconds and then exploded.

Hearing laughter, I looked and saw another figure on the roof with me. This person, however, wasn't one of my friends; as a matter of fact I had never seen this person before in my life! I observed the newcomer closely, keeping my eyes open for anything that could harm me. The figure looked male, but with the strange long blonde hair it was difficult to tell. He wore a long black cloak with red splotches on it, and it went from his chin down to his shoes. I saw a glint of metal on his forehead and saw several rock-like shapes on a metal plate on a headband, with a long slash from it. As I kept a wary eye on him, he sat down right beside me and started making clay sculptures using… mouths on his hands…? I sighed and rubbed my eyes, thinking that my lack of sleep had taken a toll on me.

"Hey, un. My organization needs your help for something." Said the person, whom I now knew for a fact was male. Backing away, he created a clay bird and tossed it in the air, and I watched as it came alive and started flying. Eyes wide open, I watched as it went higher until it exploded.

"Listen, if you agree to hear me out about the organization, I'll help set off more fireworks and use my clay explosives to help with the show, un." The deal was good, and I knew that his explosives were at the very least, effective. Nodding, my newfound assistant jumped into the hole and returned less than a minute later with dozens of my fireworks in hand. I noticed as he used his clay birds to set fireworks off, he could set several off at once, not to mention the larger explosive creatures he made. Whoever this mysterious fellow was, he was a godsend to tonight's performance.

**_Hanran's POV (How many people forgot about him?)_**

Sasori was a tough teacher, but no one could be better for preparing me for the Ichibi sealing. Under Sasori's instruction, I had helped him sort through the remainder of the items in the Rikudo Sennin's giant scroll, which luckily included scrolls on chakra theory, the concepts of ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu, the five elemental chakra releases, and extremely important Kekkei Genkai scrolls, presumably based off of the Kekkei Genkai scrolls owned by ninja villages. Luckily for me, there were two different scrolls about Jiton.

One of them was from Sunagakure, which gave a detailed analysis of how to move individual particles of metal, creating an attack style with the fluidity of water, but if carefully used, retained the solidity and injuring abilities of metal. The second style utilized magnetic fields, in order to turn any projectile or metal-based weapon into a homing missile of sorts. Sasori carefully explained that, should I successfully turn the chakra of an enemy into a magnetic attraction, badly aimed kunai knives or shuriken could gain pinpoint accuracy.

To create the Jiton, I had to first master the two elements that created it, Raiton and Doton. Upon further studying, I discovered that the reason Kekkei Genkai, for instance Jiton, couldn't be recreated by anyone was the exact proportion of Raiton compatible chakra to Doton compatible chakra had to be just right. Somehow, two different proportions emerged, which led to the two different types of Jiton, one of them more earth based, the other more based around electrical fields.

Today was the first day Sasori decided to test my abilities with Raiton jutsu. Walking to the rooftop of the Akatsuki's office/hideout, I saw Sasori was using puppet strings on planks of wood to create a makeshift arena.

"**_Doton: Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu!_**" I said, as I weaved handsigns. Immediately, four clones of me took over construction, and therefore, Sasori could stop too.

"You're getting better with that technique, Hanran." Sasori said; which was high praise coming from such an enigmatic teacher. "When I saw you yesterday you could only make three, and they weren't as stable or as strong as these ones." Said the puppet, which was now sitting next to Hanran on a bench, watching the four Iwa Bunshin work at making the arena.

"Thank you, Sasori-sensei, luckily this isn't the only technique I've completed." I said, concluding my statement with a calm, but challenging tone in contrast to my teacher's apathetic one. Sasori gave a snort, seeming more and more excited to break my confidence with every strike. Thinking back, I wasn't too surprised when Leader-sama had said that each future Jinchuriki would be taught by an Akatsuki member. Sasori had warned me that Pein had plans involving the nine targets, on the basis of showing a message to the person who had sent them to our world.

**_Flashback – Hanran's POV_**

Sasori walked into his office/room to find me staring at his puppets the day after he had brought me in. His room, being the mess of puppet blueprints, poison testing, and puppet making that it was, offered much for a curious fellow like myself, who wanted to see something out of the ordinary. Sasori himself had vacated Hiruko while in base, and it was unnerving seeing someone who looked my age, who was more powerful than everyone in my group of 'friends' put together.

Gesturing for me to follow him, we walked into the makeshift infirmary, where two people were lying in beds, one of them with a heavily bandaged right leg, the other with bandages all over him. Inside the room was the rest of the Akatsuki, with Leader standing in between the two beds so to be visible by all. Despite being the last people here, we made sure we were on time, after all, Sasori told me he hated to keep people waiting.

"Now that everyone's here, I have come to disclose a theory of mine as to how we will return to our world." Said Leader; catching the attention of everyone the instant he mentioned returning. "I believe that if we are able to make a show of teamwork, we will be able to convince the Rikudo Sennin to return us to our world, maybe with the teams, maybe not. That being said, very few of our Jinchuriki will know about Shinobi arts, so I hereby declare that every single one of us Akatsuki, myself included, will take on an apprentice to teach Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and any other arts that may be included. Dismissed!" With that, Sasori pointed at the large scroll the Akatsuki had been sent with and gave me my instructions.

**_Flashback End_**

That was the day Sasori started having me read scrolls about ninjutsu and chakra elements. Ever since that day, I've tried figuring out which variant of Jiton I would end up with. Sasori had also told me that he would give me a test of some sort, but the method was unknown. Luckily, I had already started making a strategy by last night, and with the help of several scrolls and a few subtle hints about how puppetry works from Deidara. Looking up, I saw that the arena was done. Dismissing my clones, Sasori and I stood up and inspected what it looked like.

Sasori and I had been sitting on the bench for only a half hour or so, but the work my clones had done looked like at least a couple of weeks had been put into it. The arena was made of wood, with a box-like shape. The arena itself was about twenty feet by twenty feet, and the entire arena's ceiling was tall, but not tall enough to attract too much attention. There were some makeshift stands that could easily be improved to hold about one hundred or so people.

Sitting in the stands, Sasori rolled out a scroll and unsealed a puppet. This puppet was one of Sasori's less-used puppets, a tall spear wielding one. After connecting chakra strings to his puppet, it jumped down into the arena, and Sasori's ever neutral voice spoke. "Whenever you're ready, brat." Walking into the arena, I knew that Sasori wouldn't go all-out against me. It would be hardly productive to test my skills if he used all of his abilities if he nearly killed me in less than a minute, after all.

As Sasori pulled out a book to read, he only used one hand to maintain control of the puppet. Deciding that Sasori would let me make the first move, I quickly made some handsigns and started off the fight. "**_Doton:_****_Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu!"_** Immediately, three clones popped up around me, all of them making defensive stances. Sasori's spear-wielding puppet moved forward at a barely visible speed, immediately impaling one of my rock clones in the heart. "**_Raiton: Raikyu!"_** I yelled, a lightning ball being formed in one of my hands. I charged at the puppet, only to see it immediately retreat, stabbing another clone in the process. Luckily, neither of the two clones had used any chakra, so I got some back.

Having one clone stand in front of me in a defensive stance (Not that I knew any Taijutsu to counter Sasori with), I made some handsigns as quickly as I could, while making sure not to mess up my jutsu. **_"Raiton: Raiju Hashiri no Jutsu!"_** I yelled, making a medium sized unidentifiable lightning beast charge at the puppet at the fastest speeds I had seen in my life. Deciding to make it a combination attack, I sprinted on the right side of my beast, my clone going to the left. The puppet first sidestepped out of the way of my beast, while using the spear to impale my clone. Making handsigns, I knew I only had one jutsu left in my arsenal; "**_Doton: Kengan no Jutsu!"_**

I punched a fist lightly covered by stone at the puppet, only to find that the puppet was now holding the spear in a defensive manner, holding it like how a staff would block. My punches aren't very strong normally, but with the stone coating my fists I managed to push the puppet back a couple inches. The butt of the spear, which was covered in metal of some kind, whacked me in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me. As I dropped to my knees, the puppet's foot kicked me in the head and I was knocked on my back. Taking a breath in, I felt a sharp object poke me in the throat.

"Yield." Said Sasori, as the spearhead poked the artery in my neck.

"I yield." I said, sighing. One hand of the puppet reached down to help me back up, which I graciously accepted. Walking over to the stands where Sasori was sitting, he nodded was silent for a few seconds before speaking his judgment. "You've done very well for only learning ninjutsu for a few days. How did you do it?"

"Those scrolls you gave me made everything a lot easier than it probably should be. They were a long read, but eventually I understood every little bit about how to make my techniques count. Also, my chakra reserves are puny right now. I don't think I could've made another jutsu after that stone fist." I finished, feeling the fatigue from the fight start to overrun the adrenaline of a fight.

"Not too bad though. I assume you also were thinking about how I fight, you haven't grown into assuming the unexpected. You also used a nice strategy with trying to win with numbers, and trying to exploit its lack of defense, despite that this puppet normally has a shield." Sasori said, lazily moving a finger to show as the puppet grabbed a shield that was on its back. I yawned one more time and we decided to walk inside and get some rest. It had been a decent workout for myself, after all.

**_Adam's POV_**

"Okay, I think I can live with those arrangements. I'd just need to say I was sleeping over with a friend of mine tonight, and I'll probably need to go to my home to let my family know I'm in one piece every few days. I also have school, which is a huge pain. It has homework and stuff…" Deidara held up a hand, clearly saying he needed to hear no more.

"Okay, un. I suggest you wrap this firework show up and I'll bring you to Leader-sama." Deidara said, as I looked towards my last few fireworks. Grouping them all together, I yelled out "LAST FIREWORK!" And was greeted with a huge cheer of response. Backing up, I almost threw a match at it until Deidara used clay to make a larger, combined fuse. Setting it off, the firework spun high into the air, exploding with a force much larger than it should have. Listening to the cheers of the crowd, I stood up to watch everyone, as did Deidara.

"Adam, who's your girlfriend!" Everyone yelled, as I noticed Deidara became unnaturally still.

**_Deidara's POV_**

All I could see was the blood of all those idiots, every single one of them. No one calls me a girl and lives. No one. Even though they don't deserve to be called art, I'll still have to make them art. They're so f*cking dead. (**A/N Who can guess where this last sentence is from?)**

**_Adam's POV_**

"You know, just to clarify, I don't actually know who this person is, and secondly, he's a dude. Also, I think he may be preparing to kill you all, so I'd advise running away. Also, next firework show is a month from today. Mark your calendars." I said, much to the dismay of those who had called Deidara a girl. Immediately, everyone cleared out, getting as far away from the furious Deidara as they could.

"Deidara, we should probably head to the base." I said, as Deidara remembered his mission.

"Wait, un. We have to figure out which Kekkei Genkai you have. The Rikudo Sennin promised that everyone would have a Kekkei Genkai, un." I looked in surprise, wondering what a Kekkei Genkai was. "A Kekkei Genkai is basically when someone is born with two elements rather than one, and get a new element out of it. The process is kind of like mixing red and blue and figuring out what the end result is, un." Deidara finished.

"So which one of these 'Kekkei Genkais' do I have?" I asked, wondering if Deidara knew.

"If the note the Rikudo Sennin left was true, we're going to be birds of a feather. That means you have to have an artistic kekkei genkai. Firstly, it can't be Jiton, Yoton, Hyoton, Mokuton, a Dojutsu, or some other 'eternal' element. Here, un. Try focusing energy into this paper and see how it turns out!" Deidara said, sternly, but excitedly towards the end. I placed a piece of paper in my hands and focused my chakra into it. The paper scrunched up and caught fire. Dropping the burning paper, Deidara put his hands in the air in a happy motion.

"You have Meiton, Shade Style, a style that we can use in a very artistic manner, un. Meiton allows you to absorb another person's attack and fire it back at them in any means you wish. You could take a fireball and send it back as a compressed piece of art! You could absorb any technique and send it back with your own twist. If you can master this, you'll be able to smash that heretic of an artist out of the way!" I looked back at Deidara like he was insane, not that I imagined he had any sanity left.

"Another artist? Who?" I asked. Deidara's face went red with rage, or something like that.

"A puppetmaster: Sasori no Danna. When we get back to base, we're going to smash him and his apprentice out of the water with your Meiton. Before we leave though, I'm going to teach you a jutsu I once saw from a Meiton user. You're going to use it against any ninjutsu Danna's brat uses. Sound good?" I looked up at the sky and laughed. Despite being involved with a suspicious organization and knowing I would have to fight for my new friend's almost demonic sense of art, I seemed perfectly at ease. I had a new friend, assistant at explosions, and I was going to be granted tons of new possibilities for my firework displays. For me, things were looking on the up and up.

**Author's note (End):**

**A little combat scene to show where the one person content with Pein's plan is coming along. Also, sorry that the end wasn't very good, I was pressed for time considering I'm out of town. The more reviews I receive, the more your ideas can be added to the story.**

**Techniques:**

**Raiton: Raiju Hashiri no Jutsu – Lightning Style: Lightning Beast Running Jutsu**

**Raiton: Raikyu – Lightning Style: Lightning Ball**

**Doton: Kengan no Jutsu – Earth Style: Stone Fist Jutsu**

**Doton: Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu – Earth Style: Rock Clone Jutsu**


	8. Chapter 8: Rising Action: Dan VS Kisame!

**Author's note: Nothing much to say. I'm out of town again, I'm sorry that chapter 7 took a little bit longer than the past few chapters to get out. I've been kept on my toes helping out and being active, plus for some reason I just lack the insomnia that normally gives me hours and hours to fuel possible twists and turns for the plot. Also, on a more positive note, I am very pleased to say a few things. Firstly, **_Arcami_** wrote a review less than two hours after the last chapter was published. Also, the story got a new follower by the name of **_writerright_, **who also ended up being the first person to Favorite this story.** **Hoping for more positive stuff soon!**

**To **_Arcami_**: Firstly, thank you for asking difficult questions. Zetsu is going to be difficult to write, partly because both Zetsu's plans are no doubt reliant on returning to their world. White Zetsu needs Tobi, Black Zetsu needs Madara reborn with the Rinnegan, which means he needs both Pein, Tobi, and I assume Madara's remains. Because of the need for Tobi and the remains, he needs to work with Pein. As for Jinchuriki escaping… You'll see some stuff like that relatively soon, just not this chapter. Also, as for whom the six tails one will be… It's in this chapter, but it's also in an earlier chapter. I haven't introduced a ton of characters with Kisame and Dan's chapter, but there's the place I would recommend.**

**To **_princessbinas:_** Don't blame me for that, that's all Kishimoto's fault. If you look in the wiki, it specifically says that Earth + Fire is lava. We also know that Boil/Vapor is Fire + Water, and Fire + Wind is (speculated in both manga and anime) to be Scorch. I've made a graph of all the "confirmed" kekkei genkai, that is to say the ones that Kishimoto or the Anime have blatantly said 'A + B = C'. Also, Sasori has to deal with one pyro at base. Can you imagine the stress Sasori would have if he had to deal with TWO bombers at base?**

**Also, in these past few days (8/20-8/24) I've gotten over 1/3 of the story's entire views. I'm pretty sure my eyes grew bigger than my head when I saw huge viewing spikes for not one, but FIVE days. Anyways, onto the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or techniques in the ****_Naruto_**** manga or anime. I only own my Ocs.**

**_Itachi's POV_**

Leader-sama's summons was quite unexpected. Walking into his office, I saw him sitting behind his desk, and Konan and Zetsu were sitting on his left and right, respectively. Now that I thought, I realized Konan was supposed to go after the Rokubi, but from what I could tell, hadn't left the base at all. Perhaps this would have to do with Leader-sama's summons?

"Leader-sama, do you have a task for me?" I asked, watching his reaction with my always-present Sharingan. "Yes, Itachi. Konan's target, according to the Sage's note, has some need to be close to Dan, the future Sanbi. That being said, we do not know the exact needs of this requirement. Considering Konan will already be a shield for the future Nibi and the teacher of the Rokubi, plus acting as second in command," I'm not exactly the type to suspect others without reason, but I knew that Konan was far more to Pein than a second in command. Far more. Oh yes, Pein was saying… "I'll need you to peek into Dan's memory to see if there's anyone in his age group who fits the description." Pein finished, looking at Itachi for response. That being said, no one wanted to deny any missions to speed up the process of getting home. Everyone had business or desires that couldn't be fulfilled in this world, and very few members actually enjoyed aspects of this strange, alien realm. I nodded and exited Pein's office. Returning into my room, I knew I would have to bring some interrogation equipment.

Walking into my room, I grabbed several kunai, and large amounts of rope. Despite the fact that Dan was still injured, and still a civilian, his abilities should not be underestimated. He had the capability to make Kage Bunshin, and use albeit a weak technique despite not knowing anything about the shinobi world. I knew that once Kisame and Dan started working together, they would be an unstoppable duo. The Suiton techniques and genjutsu abilities of the Sanbi would make a nice set of abilities to help the mostly tanky, ninjutsu and kenjutsu using shark man.

"Rope and Kunai? What are you doing?" I turned around, and realized I should not be surprised that my room was empty. The flame-headed Yoton user was standing in the corner of the room, leaning against a wall. Ever since I had brought her here, she had been observing all of my actions in both serious and amused manners. What was truly unnerving about how she was doing it was that I had seen many similarities between her and my old friend Shisui, with her respect reminding me of my otuoto, Sasuke. Realizing Clara was still waiting for a response from me, I decided to tell her. Considering she hadn't told Leader, Konan, or any other members my secrets, I figured I might as well give a small reward for loyalty.

"I'm going to get some information out of Kisame's target, Dan. Konan-san's target has some sort of connection with Dan. I intend to find all those who might fit the description and identify our target." Her eyes widened a little bit and she got her excited look again. "Ooooh, can I see Sharingan interrogation? I can help identify based on the memories!" I closed my eyes, knowing Clara would come along whether I said yes or no. Nodding, I opened my eyes and entered Dan and Kisame's room, Sharingan active.

Dan noticed me and quickly averted his eyes, apparently he knew more than he let on. While I stood still, waiting for him to look up again, Clara walked over to the chair he was sitting in and looked at him for a few seconds. Upon realizing it wasn't me who was looking at him, he looked up and observed the newcomer was not the Sharingan user. Eyes widening in confusion, Clara snapped his head towards me, at which point my genjutsu took place.

**_In Dan's mind…_**

I looked around, floating in a space filled with pictures. Those pictures were access points to memories, and my genjutsu knew how to sort them out. By using my Sharingan, I could dispel all memories that were irrelevant to keywords. By using these keywords, I could sort through all of his memories until I got to a select few I could manually watch for any possible candidates. I also knew that Leader would likely want to know how Dan figured out about the Akatsuki, or about Kisame. Looking around at his memories, I chose my first keyword. "Akatsuki" I said, as most of the memories cleared out of the way.

Looking around, I saw the memories amass according to chronological order, five to be exact. The first memory's picture was of two boys at a desk, one of them I recognized as Dan. The second memory was of Kisame's first attempt at taking the boy, the third was his research done in what looked like an empty room and making the shadow clone hand seal. The fourth memory showed Kisame in the air swinging Samehada at Dan's head, most likely his capturing. The fifth memory was of Dan and Cassandra looking at a small device which Clara had called a 'cell phone' multiple times.

Looking into the first memory, I saw a few faces I recognized. Pictures of Jiraiya of the Sannin, Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, and Kakashi of the Sharingan were on the walls of this room. Listening to Dan's friend rant, I procured a few pieces of important information. Firstly, Jiraiya had trained Konan, and judging by the Rinnegan of 'Nagato', and the physical appearance of 'Yahiko', the Toad Sage had trained Leader as well. Somehow, I didn't think that this 'Tom' was the right person, but I kept his name anyway. Backing out of the first memory, I looked in the second.

I saw a large building which the context of Dan's mind told me was his school. Looking around, I saw a large boy with a group of other teens plotting something, and Dan's expression was a clear indicator of their poor relations. Watching as he eyed the group, I noticed his mind had a thought as it crossed a girl. Scanning his brain further, I got a thought process I was looking for. '_Jessica. Why does she look at me with those eyes? What do they mean? It's not anger, not fear, what is it?'_ My gut had a feeling… Perhaps this could be the one. I filed the name and memory away as I watched Kisame's approach. I noted that had he met Dan a few seconds earlier, Dan wouldn't have been able to get into the window in time. I shrugged; it was time for the third memory.

Dan was on his 'cell phone' right now, looking at what looked like a page with data on Kisame. It showed his abilities, some of his history, and even displayed details about their 'failed' capture attempt on Uzumaki Naruto, the former Kyuubi Jinchuriki. Narrowing my eyes, I saw him move on to Uzumaki Naruto's profile and move down the numerous list of Jutsu he could perform, until he tapped the words "Shadow Clone Jutsu". Looking up, I saw Dan move to an unattended room and start practicing the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. I had seen enough, it was time for the fourth memory.

The fourth memory was of his capture. Dan's excellent use of tactics against his enemy, 'Tom', proved excellent for insight. Although Dan had not been given any formal shinobi training, he was excellent with the use of hidden Senbon and poison, which were both relatively uncommon shinobi specialties. The use of clones as diversions and time-givers was also proven, as I followed Kisame through this memory. The use of a low-rank Fuuton Ninjutsu was also notable, but unfortunately this memory was worthless in terms of potential candidates for the Rokubi. As I exited his memory, I knew that he had spent the rest of the time inside our base, and had therefore not come into contact with anyone who could have been a future Jinchuriki.

**_In the Real World_**

"Damn you, Itachi Uchiha." Said Dan, as I exited his mind. Anyone who had their mind probed by the Sharingan relived the memories being viewed. I looked around the room. Dan's head was down, his eyes closed and his teeth gritting in anger. His voice was laced with venom that would have worried me had I not been an S ranked nuke-nin with an untrained child as my opponent. Clara on the other hand looked sadly at the future Sanbi Jinchuriki, and patted him on the head before following me as I left the room. "Itachi-sensei, can I please see?" I nodded, Sharingan whirring to life before replaying all four memories that I had watched. Clara opened her eyes and only spoke a few words, but to me, they proved I was right. "The girl is the one, no doubt." I nodded and walked off to visit Leader and Konan.

**_In Pein's Office…_**

"So this is the one, Itachi? This 'Jessica' will be the Rokubi?" Asked Pein, his Rinnegan boring deep into my being. "Hai, Leader-sama. I believe Konan must look for this girl." I said, as I used my Sharingan to give the appearance of the girl to Konan. "Also, Itachi, we will be sealing the Ichibi into Hanran immediately upon Konan's return, please give this information to the others." Leader said, as I walked out of the room to deliver this new information to the others, Clara following.

**_Konan's POV_**

I waited until Zetsu left the room before speaking about my mission. "Nagato, why are we going to seal before we have all nine future Jinchuriki?" Nagato, or rather Pein looked over at me. "If we manage to show the positives of having a Bijuu from one of our more agreeable future Jinchuriki, we might not need to resort to as much force as we may need to. We can use Hanran as a bridge to speeding up our plans, and with an instructor like Sasori, he'll probably gain the skills of a half-decent shinobi to boot." I looked at Nagato, knowing that to him, the world was a melting pot of possibilities to be used and exploited as needed. Nodding and sighing, I left in a whirl of paper.

**_In a Park…_**

Whirling into existence, I knew that my sizable chakra reserves* would prove handy in testing Itachi and Clara's theory. Standing in a tree, I saw the girl from Dan's memory looking around, seemingly bored. Smiling, I knew just the way to add some drama to her otherwise bored demeanor. Floating down from the tree, I quickly made a **_Kami Bunshin_** and used the paper to create a lifelike duo of Dan. I made sure to add a slight injury to test if she would gravitate towards him, like the Sage predicted. Coughing, I gained her attention.

"I believe that this is a friend of yours, right?" The effect would have been comical had I not been so serious, and had she not been so seriously worried. Allowing her to come closer, she looked at the 'bleeding' head of my paper clone of Dan and tried stopping the blood from flowing. Smiling, I knew this would be easier than I had thought.

"You know, this is not the real Dan." I said, dispersing the paper clone in front of her eyes. "But, currently he is injured, and all of the medics in my organization are busy. Perhaps you would like to hear me out, and maybe help?" She nodded, but whispered a request. "Please don't tell anyone how I reacted. Please." Nodding, I started to explain about the Akatsuki, the Bijuu, and her role.

**_Dan's POV_**

Cassandra looked at me with determination, she had now finished the Jutsu I had started teaching the both of us. She, like me, had a Fuuton affinity, and in the practicality of my plan, I had to make a major modification to the same jutsu we were learning. As I told her the final details of my plan, we both grinned. Injured or not, we would escape. Injured or not, we would have freedom.

**_Konan's POV_**

I finished telling Jessica the entirety of the Akatsuki's story in this world, and waited for her reaction. While she was deciding, I took a few steps away and murmured my genjutsu. "**_Ninpou: Tenshi no Genjutsu!"_** I whispered, as I weaved handsigns. Around Jessica, a storm of paper made a tornado around her, and I noticed her yawning. Smiling, I placed my hand on her shoulder, noticing she was already tired from my Genjutsu. "Tired?" I asked, and she nodded. "I'll bring you to base now." I said, as I wrapped her in paper, and the two of us vanished in a tornado of paper.

**_At the Base…_**

I entered the office with my target inside of my paper covering, which looked a lot like those Suna cloth jutsu. Entering, I made my first stop Pein's office. "Leader-sama, I have returned with Jessica." I said, watching Pein stand up and nod in approval. "Excellent job, Konan. I suggest you bring your target to your room and get some rest; we will seal Hanran within a few days. I nodded, bringing my paper cocoon with me. Placing it on a hammock, I dispersed it and climbed into a hammock of my own. Even though I was Pein's 'Tenshi', I still needed rest before the sealing, the kind of which had never been done by the Akatsuki.

**_Sasori's POV_**

Because Hanran would be sealed relatively soon, I knew we couldn't spar, or do anything that would lower his chakra levels, knowing that the instant the Shukaku was moved from the Rikudo Sennin's sealing to the Jinchuriki, it would rebel and fight the Akatsuki's Fuinjutsu very tenaciously. What would be the real problem was what would happen if Hanran's will weren't strong enough to keep the seal intact. Leader was a master of sealing, but even the greatest seal wouldn't be strong enough if the beast's will dragged down the Jinchuriki.

"Sasori-sensei?" Asked Hanran, with a worried look. "Do you think I'll be a decent Jinchuriki?" I looked over at Hanran and gave my analysis. "Hanran, the Shukaku uses Jiton, just like you do. If you can keep the will of the beast at bay, you could possibly be the greatest Jiton user in all existence, and with the rate of jutsu learning you're at, you could surpass me in a decade or less." Hanran looked reassured, and asked one more question. "Sasori-sensei, how do you make puppets?" I blinked, and knew that if Hanran sped through the puppeteering arts as fast as he had with ninjutsu, I'd find my reputation as the greatest puppetmaster in history in doubt. Sighing, I spoke my answer. "After the sealing. Let's talk about art after the sealing."

**_Dan's POV_**

I was even more suspicious than usual when Kisame walked in not only holding Samehada, but a second blade as well, but the second one was nowhere near as powerful**. Throwing the sword at me, he grinned and gave his orders; "Grab the sword and come to the sparring ground Sasori and his brat set up. We're going training, and you've been idle too long." Remembering what I read online, I knew that Kisame was a member of the most deadly swordsmen in existence, and Kisame also was the wielder of the most terrifying and deadly of the seven blades. Noticing Kisame had left a scabbard for the blade, I placed the sword inside of it and set the scabbard to my back. Looking back at Cassandra, I mouthed '_The plan continues._' Noticing she nodded, I grinned.

Wearily, I followed Kisame up the stairs, to the roof, to the arena built by Sasori and his lapdog Hanran. Holding the blade, I knew it was too heavy for me, but a few months of practice and exercise would make its weight easy to manage. "I'm going to come at you with enough ability to match a novice. You're going to fight me until you get past this level, then you're going to beat me after a while and get stronger, then I'm going to use more power until you become a competent swordsman and someone worthy of being called the Sanbi Jinchuriki and my apprentice. That being said, if you don't use your full potential, or if you don't give me the respect I deserve, I won't hesitate to use pain to motivate you. Perhaps you don't remember the feeling of Samehada ripping your body apart?" I quickly readied my sword; the last thing I wanted was Samehada ripping me apart like it did last time.

Using the distance between Kisame and I, I channeled chakra as Kisame walked forward, Samehada in hand. After placing one of my poison needles inside a blowdart launcher, which I promptly readied for use, I clapped my hands together and yelled my Jutsu name; "**_Fuuton: Reppusho!"_** Shooting my needle as I used my jutsu, I watched the amplification effect of the Gale Palm take effect as the needle shot through the air two or three times faster than it originally would have been. Unfortunately, this was still not fast enough for Kisame, who simply moved his head to the side and continued walking forward at a leisurely pace. Deciding I had not put enough focus in my jutsu, I used it again. "**_Fuuton: Reppusho!"_**I yelled, focusing on the harshness of the winds drawn forth, hoping to do anything to stall Kisame.

Kisame instead grinned and laughed, letting his sword slice through the winds my chakra produced. Knowing I had no chance of keeping him at range any longer, I drew my sword just as Kisame swung his sword down at me. Stepping back, I matched his swing with a powerful, if barbaric and simple side-swing to the left, which turned our locked swords into a test of strength. Despite the fact that I was tall (six feet two inches, to be exact), Kisame still was quite taller than me. In my fights against Tom and his cronies, I always relied on being smart with hidden and long-range weapons, not trying to win a fight of brute strength. With both the disadvantages I had against Kisame, plus the fact that I was still weak from my first fight, and had lost some chakra in this fight already…

Kisame's brute force knocked me over, and the only thing that stopped his blade from crushing me was the weak shield my sword had become. "You're not going to last long, Dan." Kisame said, happily crushing my resistance. "You know, you can just slap the ground to signal your defeat." Said Kisame. Quickly, my mind went over the possibilities. I knew that Kisame was testing both my pride and my intelligence. I knew that if I were going to pull off my escape, I would need as much chakra as I could. With Samehada draining my chakra, a continued fight would lessen the odds of it succeeding. That being said, Kisame knew my rebellious nature and if I surrendered, he would get suspicious. Whatever I had to do though, I had to decide fast. Kisame would drain all of my chakra if I didn't act now!

Pulling together all my remaining strength, I pushed against Kisame and managed to push my blade up an inch before kicking myself back, dropping my sword, and dodging Kisame's swings. Eventually, one swing connected with my arm, and the end result felt like someone had ripped my arm apart. As I closed my eyes in pain, I knew I couldn't show tears in front of Kisame. He may be my so-called 'teacher' according to Pein, but I wouldn't let up for anything. When I felt Samehada's scales against me, I mentally cursed for closing my eyes and being ignorant of the situation.

"Yield." Said Kisame, and I nodded. "Time to get you patched up, Dan. For now, you're weak in all regards except for tenacity and quick thinking." He said, as he led me downstairs to get patched up by Konan and Kakuzu. Again. Cursing under my breath as I felt the bandages wrap up my arm. Again. As I was walked back to my bed in the medical wing, I noticed Cassandra had an eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face. No doubt she had been predicting this outcome. I shook my head in disgrace but simply said "Tomorrow. Tomorrow is the day." With that, I concluded my day and fell asleep from chakra exhaustion.

**Author's note: End**

***Konan has the ability to fight Obito 1v1, even after using herself as a suicide bomb and setting off 600 BILLION paper bombs for TEN MINUTES STRAIGHT. Anyone with half a brain would know she clearly has extremely powerful chakra reserves, even if no one states it in canon.**

****This is basically Darui's blade.**

**Okay, I have a not-so-happy update. Considering the school year starts in a little bit, the number of chapters I'll be putting out will be much lower. I know that some weeks I may have a break (Ie: Thanksgiving, Winter Break, etc.) and I'll do my best to output a chapter. Until then, I'll have my hands tied when school starts.**

**PS: Is it just me, or does every fanfiction involving Tailed Beasts say "Kyuubi is the best"? ._.**

**All Techniques:**

**Fuuton: Reppusho**

By clapping hands together, one can create an attack similar to Shinra Tensei, but it is wilder, and much less powerful. Used by Nagato and Dan. Can also be used to supplement weapon fire.

**Ninpou: Tenshi no Genjutsu (D-rank) (Original)**

Minor hypnosis genjutsu used by Konan to make people more agreeable to her suggestions.


	9. Chapter 9: Stupidity and Success!

**Author's note:**

**A lot less views on Chapter 8, sorry about it being so late _. I had some stuff going on and needed to think up more material for the chapter, which ended up being Kisame and Dan's brief kenjutsu fight. I was thinking about more ways to take this series, and I've been thinking about what the climax of the series is going to be. I've got some ideas, but they're mostly just ideas as of right now. **

_Italics are thoughts_

**To **_princessbinas_**: Yeah, I had the same thought process, especially considering it was so weak to Lightning Release. I feel like having it be a more earth-based Kekkei Genkai would be a useful way to resolve the issue, but if one compares other techniques that have different 'varieties' persay (Toroi's Magnet Release Vs. 4****th**** Kazekage's, or the three or four different types of Lava release), they still all go under a single Kekkei Genkai, where as Explosion Release is its own thing… At least it gives writers more opportunity to modify things to one's liking, eh? Thanks for the review ^_^.**

**Enjoy, share this story around, and review – it makes me feel good and helps me become a better writer!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters in the Naruto Anime or Manga.**

**_Pein's POV – Two days after Jessica's Capture_**

I focused on my ring, knowing that the time had come. Six future Jinchuriki were in our base, and all members had been given a couple days of rest. Truthfully, I wasn't too happy to relinquish the brief calm and lack of headaches. Hidan hadn't sacrificed anyone to spare his chakra and energy, Deidara and Sasori hadn't gotten into artistic fights, Kisame had refrained from sparring with Dan, rather had taken to teaching him. Itachi and Clara were developing a strategy to use Clara's chakra reserves as an anchor and a lifeline for Itachi's much smaller reserves. Zetsu had identified the three last Jinchuriki, and Kakuzu had refrained from trying to kill Hidan. Konan and I were able to work with light hearts without Madara, or whoever he was, bossing us around. Everyone, even Zetsu, who was loyal to Madara above me, was at peace and was ultimately satisfied.

Unfortunately, today was the day of the sealing. Grabbing the scroll the Rikudo Sennin had given us; I walked to the roof of our building, Konan following me. "Konan, please get Itachi. His sharingan and knowledge will be of great use to this operation." Konan nodded, vanishing in a whirl of paper. I entered the small hanger/garage, placing ten stones I discovered in my initial scouring of the scroll for anything of use. Opening the scroll, I saw a space with the kanji for "statue" on it. Opening it up, a large golem with gems surrounding a stone button on its stomach emerged. Looking at the statue, I noticed that each one had a Kanji on it and a different color. Assuming this was the mechanism used to seal the nine Bijuu, I watched as a whirl of paper materialized both Konan and Itachi. "Itachi, please take a look at this configuration. If all goes well, we should be able to reverse-seal the Bijuu in the same way we sealed them in the Gedo Mazou." The Uchiha killer's sharingan whirled into life, looking at the stones, their positioning, and his eyes widened, presumably at the massive chakra signature coming from the statue. Walking towards the statue and examining it with his Sharingan, Itachi investigated the statue for anything and everything that was important.

"Everything looks good, Leader-sama. I also have a theory as to how this statue works." I nodded at Itachi, waiting for his theory. "I believe that by pressing a gem will force the chakra of the Bijuu to the statue, at which point we channel chakra, along with a Fuinjutsu, to force the statue to continuously "barf" out the Bijuu's chakra, again using our chakra to force it inside the seal. We act as both a magnet for the chakra and a funnel for it to go into the Jinchuriki. I believe the Rikudo Sennin also configured each stone to react to our rings, with a tenth one for when we recover Orochimaru's…" Itachi trailed off, thinking about the impossibility of regaining the "Void" ring. "We'll be constantly running at 90 percent efficiency, assuming the Rikudo Sennin didn't take that into account." I looked at Itachi and nodded, thinking before speaking. "This can't be any more difficult than the actual sealing, and with the extra rest and Clara boosting your chakra, we should be able to make up for that deficit easily enough. Do not worry, Itachi. I will ensure that these sealings are successful." Itachi nodded, and dispersed into a flock of crows, undoubtedly to reform inside.

"Konan, I'm going inside to research on the sealing scrolls the Sage left us. Can you ensure that every member, along with Hanran, is in perfect condition to start the ritual? We need everyone fed, watered, uninjured, you know the drill." Konan nodded and dispersed herself into paper. I sighed at the seal research I was going to be doing for the next hour or so. Hanran and the others had better be ready for the sealing; I didn't want my perfect peace disrupted.

**_Meanwhile… (Hanran's POV)_**

I opened my eyes with a feeling of dread in my stomach. Today was the day I was going to have the Suna no Shukaku sealed into me. According to Sasori, the Shukaku was an insane Bijuu, constantly tormenting its Jinchuriki, and would try to take over my body if I slept, making me an insomniac for my entire life. Also, the past Jinchuriki, Gaara, was insane for years under Shukaku's partial influence. I knew that I wasn't a ninja, and didn't know how to suppress my own chakra, let alone a Bijuu's! What would happen if I went insane and attacked everyone around me? What would happen if I fell asleep and the Ichibi unleashed itself completely? What if- "Hanran, stop worrying. You're only going to make the sealing more difficult for everyone by freaking out." I looked up, and Sasori was looking at me, arms folded in a disapproving manner. I looked down, hoping to calm down, but quickly started freaking out again.

I heard movement in the background of the room and looked to my side, watching Sasori make a chemical of some sort. Finishing the chemical, I watched as he put it into an injection needle. "Hanran, you have two options. The first one is get to grips with the Ichibi and understand the circumstances will be much different, or you continue stressing out and I give you an injection powerful enough to knock out an elephant. Your choice." I looked at Sasori and quickly thought through the improbabilities. "What do you mean, the circumstances are different?" Sasori looked at me for a few seconds before answering. "The person responsible for the sealing of Gaara was a woman named Chiyo-baasama, and she, despite being the greatest expert of medical knowledge in Suna, and one of the greatest medic-nins in the world, she was not a master of Fuinjutsu. The seal she placed on Gaara kept the Shukaku from emerging, but ultimately, it was much weaker than any seal placed on a Jinchuriki in history. Ultimately, it was a miracle the Shukaku only emerged as many times as it did – the weakness of the seal should have permitted it to wreak havoc even more times than it did."

Sasori waited before letting those facts sink in. "Also, Leader-sama is a master of sealing, considering he is extremely knowledgeable about the Uzumaki clan's Fuinjutsu. The Uzumaki were the world's greatest pioneers of seals, rightly feared, and their clan's shinobi village was only defeated under an alliance of many nations, several being great nations." I widened my eyes slightly. Leader had studied under a clan so powerful that the only way to defeat them was to have an onslaught of many thousands. "Also, unlike Chiyo, who had only so much chakra to work with between her and her brother Ebizo, you have nine extremely powerful Shinobi, three* of which have absolutely monstrous amounts of chakra. Unless you believe the Akatsuki are fools, we will not let you down, and even more certainly not let the Ichibi manifest itself. If you need another reason to believe we'll succeed, remember this: You are one of us now." I nodded, knowing that Sasori's words were true. The Akatsuki were strong, and if what Sasori said about Leader was true, the odds of screwing up the sealing were essentially zero.

"Sasori-san, Hanran, we're all gathering for breakfast." Konan stood in the doorway, and as I thought about breakfast, I realized that I could smell eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns cooking, and I could hear Kisame requesting for the coffee pot from Kakuzu. I smiled, thinking to myself. '_I am one of you guys now, eh? If the Akatsuki behaves a lot like a family does, does that mean I'm part of their family too?_ With that last happy thought, I followed Konan, watching the Akatsuki crowd around the table, eating, drinking coffee, cooking things, grabbing silverware, everything a large and relatively insane family should be doing.

Sitting down in an empty seat, I noticed Leader was looking towards me. "Hanran, after we finish breakfast we'll do the sealing. Itachi, Konan, and I investigated the sealing mechanism, and we believe it won't take as long as an unsealing. With my ability in Fuinjutsu and the relative ease of the storage statue, it will probably take a few hours at most." I nodded again, and started scooping food on my plate. Today was going to be quite the game changer.

**_Dan's POV (One hour later)_**

I looked at Cassandra and nodded, hearing the sounds of all the other inhabitants of the office go upstairs. Keeping my eyes closed and everything around me silent, I listened in for any indication that the sealing was starting. Not five minutes later I heard sounds, and based off of what I had read, those were likely the Akatsuki members connecting to the statue with their rings. _'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine rings connected. They're getting into the ritual, no doubt about it._' I grabbed my sword and then looked at Cassandra and mouthed _'Follow me.'_ She nodded, likely keeping the Jutsu I had taught the both of us in mind. Walking over to the large window of the main hallway, we quickly and carefully opened the window, letting the feeling of the wind wash over us. Nodding again, I grabbed some rope and did the steps of my plan, but not before we cast a jutsu to buy us some time.

**_Flashback – A few days ago…_**

"Dan, what's the plan for escaping you're so confident about?" Asked Cassandra, eyes full of doubt in his plan.

"Well, I was thinking about Fuuton Jutsu. I was thinking if we learned the **Fuuton: Daitoppa**** we could both use it at once, and have it act like thrusters on a rocket that's returning from outer space. We'll use this Jutsu to slow down our descent and once we're down there, we're home free. I don't know about you, but I know I have things I need to do, people to protect…" I trailed off. Cassandra looked at me like I was crazy.

"Remind me, Dan, how are we going to use those as thrusters when the stairs are blocked off?" I looked over at Cassandra and smiled.

"We're going to jump out of the window." Cassandra looked at me again, feeling less and less confident in my ideas.

"You see, I was thinking that we should have rope, or a cable, or something to tie us together, like rock climbers do. Using that, we would jump from window ledge to window ledge, with Fuuton: Daitoppa acting as the thrusters bit to keep us okay. We'd jump from ledge to ledge. For instance, you would go to the first one, I'd jump down to the one below you, you'd jump down to the one below me… I think you get it." Cassandra still looked at me with those eyes, practically screaming '_ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?_' I looked at her again, my planning grin still on my face. "What, do you have a better idea?" She sighed.

"You know, we could simply use the Daitoppa to break through the barricade, right?" I looked at her like she was crazy this time.

"You know, I'd actually like a few hours of a head start before the Akatsuki come hunting after us. I wonder how much noise breaking a barricade of that size creates?" I said, watching as she looked down. "You know, if we pull this off right, it might only take an hour or two. From what I overheard, the sealing should be anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Also, because they want to seal us in numerical order for simplicity, you'll be next, and I'll be right after you. The entire Akatsuki will be stalled and we'll be able to roam free and prepare, if only for a few days. I've still got my phone and once we get out of here I'll start amassing information about the Akatsuki – We've gotta prepare for all hell to come loose." Cassandra opened her mouth as if to say something, but closed it again. This really was our only realistic option for escape: we had to take it.

**_Flashback End_**

"Ready?" I asked, as I stepped up to the window. The first jump, of course, would have Cassandra acting as an anchor from the top window in the event something went wrong. From there, we'd be in the hands of our skills and fate.

**_On a cloud…_**

"Hago, what on earth are they doing?" Asked Hamura, exasperated at the result of Dan and Cassandra's stupidity.

"Oh, be patient with them, Hamura. I'll just give them a gift or two to make sure they succeed in this…" Hamura sighed, shaking his head again.

"And what type of gift is this, Brother?" _'I hope Hago won't be an idiot.'_

"I'll just boost their reflexes and make their chakra a little bit denser… Their jutsu will be strong and flexible enough to have the effect this 'Dan' wants. What do you think, Hamu?" Hagoromo looked at Hamura, and noticed Hamura had one hand on his forehead, and Hagoromo's sharingan noticed a large amount of chakra inside Hamura's head. A headache? Why would Hamura ever have a headache?

"Hago. If these two somehow screw up because of these powers you give them, I swear…" Hagoromo shook his head, smiling. "Don't worry, Hamura. I'll make sure everything works out okay." Hagoromo turned back to his view of Dan's plan in action, not catching his brother's muttering of "That's what I'm afraid of…"

**_Dan's POV – One climb later._**

Climbing down was a grind. I knew it would be, considering that the Akatsuki lived in a skyscraper. The same hand-seals were done so many times, I knew that we were probably professionals at doing the combination of Tiger, Ox, Dog, Rabbit, and Snake, all in a row. Unfortunately, there were multiple close calls, which usually involved a great deal of cursing, fear of heights, and promises of pain from Cassandra

"Dan, if I didn't just climb down the side of a fucking skyscraper, I would kill you for making me do this with an injured leg." I rubbed my hand on the back of my hood, keeping in mind that if she did try to kill me, I still had one or two needles dipped in my sleeping poison.

"I don't know about you, but I'm gonna head home. There's no doubt my dad and brother are worried about me." I said, hoping to escape a furious Cassandra with only mild punishment.

"There is no way I'm going anywhere until I get revenge on you. Maybe if I don't kill you, I can make things much worse." Said Cassandra, with the look of a predator playing with its prey. _'This is either going to be bad or horrible depending on how I react. If I deny her request, I risk possible betrayal or a breakdown of our unofficial alliance. If I accept, there's no guarantee what she'll do, but I'll have an extra hand if Kisame or someone else shows up to recover or kill one of us. But because two of us escaped, Leader may send two after us to match our numbers? _I knew that now wasn't the time to be having division in our forces (of 2); the Akatsuki could finish sealing Hanran anytime now. I nodded and marched off to my home.

**_Kisame's POV_**

"And… SEAL!" Pein stood over Hanran as the last traces of the Ichibi's red chakra filled into his custom-made seal. No matter how powerful the Ichibi was, Pein's seal would not allow it to make Hanran insane. _Maybe if Pein 'screws up' Dan's seal, he'll learn that he needs the Akatsuki._ Kisame grinned at this thought, even though he knew it was a wishful dream. "Okay, everyone can stop placing forth chakra. The sealing is done, and Hanran appears to be unconscious. Sasori, as he's your apprentice, I suggest you check on him to make sure he's okay. I know the seal is good, but I don't know how his chakra is mixing with the Shukaku's." Sasori nodded and grabbed Hanran, slinging him over his shoulder.

Going back downstairs, I decided that Dan needed a good spar for my test as to what he's learned, because I knew he was holding back a little in our fight. Opening the door, I expected to see Dan and Cassandra talking, or doing whatever they did when no one was watching. I opened the door to the hospital to find Dan and Cassandra, apparently asleep. Looking around, however, I saw that Dan's sword was missing, and they both looked far too peaceful to be real. "Very clever trick with the clones, but you'll have to do better than that." I said, only to see Cassandra visibly twitch and Dan's clone invisibly tense, which would have fooled anyone who wasn't a shinobi.

Smashing Dan's clone with Samehada, I called Hidan into the room. "What the hell do you want, fishy?" Letting the fish comment slide, I used Samehada to drain some of Cassandra's clone's chakra. "You see, I believe our charges have escaped capture, and I was thinking about giving them some foreshadowing to what we'll do to them once we re-capture them. Do you want Cassandra, or should I do the honors?" Hidan grinned, and walked over to Cassandra's clone, scythe raised. "FOR JASHIN-SAMA!" yelled Hidan, ruthlessly smashing his scythe into the clone. "Leader-sama, it appears the future Nibi and Sanbi Jinchuriki have escaped." In a flash, Leader, Konan, and strangely enough Itachi appeared, peeking into the hospital room. With an angry and impatient tone, Leader gave his orders: "Itachi, Kisame, re-capture them. Use any and all means you deem effective that will not kill or permanently injure them."

**_Dan's POV_**

_"Very clever trick with the clones, but you'll have to do better than that."_ Those words that my clone delivered upon its dismissal were haunting. It seemed that no matter what we did, the Akatsuki always knew a way around it. Noticing Cassandra shudder no more than a minute later, I knew that her clone was disabled too. In addition to the **_Fuuton: Daitoppa_**, I had felt it necessary to teach Cassandra how to make Shadow Clones, in the event we needed a few duplicates along the way. Banishing all fears of the Akatsuki from my mind, I went out of the frying pan and into the fire. I had just arrived at my house, and my Dad was standing outside, looking at the two of us approaching.

"Hello Daniel, who's this?" I looked at my dad and removed my sweatshirt, making the bandages on my torso and arms visible, and I pointed at the bandages (which were now soaked through with blood and sweat from the stress of the climb) on Cassandra's leg. "Cassandra, Dad, Dad, Cassandra. Dad, we just went through hell and back, can we please discuss this once I wake up?" My dad looked at the bandages and his mouth opened and closed multiple times before sighing and opening the door, letting the both of us in.

**_Cassandra's POV_**

Following Dan, I knew fatigue was setting in, but in order to get rest, I knew I had to move to wherever I would be sleeping. I didn't care if it was a bed, hammock, sleeping bag, couch, whatever. Following Dan, I heard the pitter patter of small feet approaching around the corner, and out of the room at the end of the hall, what looked like a mini-Dan flew across the corner and ran into Dan, screaming "Big brother Dan! Big Brother Dan!" Looking down, I saw the kid holding onto Dan and crying like he would die if the kid ever let go. Dan looked down sadly at the kid and looked over at me, mouthing _'Little brother_'. Looking at the kid, I could tell. The same blue eyes, black hair, tall and lanky structure that Dan had was present in this kid.

"Riley, look at me." Dan crouched down as his little brother Riley looked at him, and cupped the little kid's face in his hands. "Your big brother and his friend will be alright. I'm sorry I made you worry, for what it's worth." Said Dan, looking down. I noticed he added _'and his friend'_ to Riley's worry, which I knew was nothing more than an attempt to get Riley away from his sadness and worry and onto curiosity about the newcomer.

Riley looked at me with big eyes, and blushed a little. I barely heard what he whispered to Dan, but heard it I did. "Big brother, she's pretty. Is she your girlfriend?" Dan and I looked at each other for a second before laughing at the same time. "No Riley, she's more of a friend of mine." Said Dan, patting Riley's head. "Speaking of my friend, her name is Cassandra and we're both pretty tired right now. I think we need some sleep." Riley nodded and ran off to the room at the end, where Dan and I both entered. "Riley and I sleep here, odds are when I sleep he'll cling onto me like a lifeline, so you'll probably sleep in his bed." He whispered, I simply nodded, agreeing. As Riley turned off the light and Dan got into his bed and fell asleep right then and there, Riley walked up to his big brother and attached to him just like Dan predicted. Smiling to myself, I now knew that Dan wasn't the kid with a stick up his ass that he pretended to be, but wanted to escape solely for his little brother. _Perhaps_, I thought to myself, _he isn't what I made him out to be._

**Author's note: End**

***This is, of course, referring to Kisame, Kakuzu (Just imagine the amount of chakra required to use all those powerful attacks from his hearts) and Konan (See ch. 8 for explanation). **

****Dan doesn't know very much about how elements work or main elements and kekkei genkai and all that stuff. **

**Also, I'm thinking about doing a 'fun' chapter, kind of like some of the more comedic episodes of the Naruto anime (Ex: the Kakashi's mask one, the "Naruto: Outbreak", and "Animal District" episodes…) and I was wondering if anyone would like to see it maybe a few chapters down the road. I left a poll about it on my profile, so please leave your votes! I'll be out of town for a few days (School stuff) so I'll check the poll along with everything else when I get back. **

**Also, I was wondering if anyone could direct me to the episode where Shino is talking to those academy students who are worried about the war? Thanks in advance.**

**UPDATE: Chapters 1 &amp; 2 have been edited, Pein's OOC behavior has been fixed to the best of my ability.**


	10. Chapter 10: Plant Man's Mission

**Author's note:**

**Just saw some of the content from revolution, and I gotta say, the end of Sasuke's dream about Itachi involving the "Egg King Itachi" made me laugh a ton. On another bright note, this chapter is finally released. The hunt for new Jinchuriki is on, and a few new twists for next chapter – the story (finally) gets moving.**

**To **_princessbinas_: **Agreed. After all, this story couldn't exist if that freedom didn't. **

**I've noticed that my views are dropping considerably from where they were at in August. I assumed that with lesser chapter output and the school year starting this would happen, but it's a shame. Regardless, that's just another reason to keep at it, eh?**

**Also, to **_Arcami_**, I finally added something involving BZ that you might enjoy.**

**Read, Enjoy, and if you especially liked it, Review and/or Follow/fav? (It speeds up the writing process)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, places, or Jutsu from the Naruto series.**

**_Hanran's POV_**

_Where am I?_ I asked in my head, as I opened up my eyes. Looking around me, I saw that I was in a desert at sunrise, or was it sunset? The desert had a large pyramid in front of me. Looking around, I saw nothing in the desert. There was no one else around, the sun didn't rise or set, and it merely stayed in the same place. Staring into the sun for a long time didn't harm my eyes either, somehow… As I watched the sun, however, I heard noise coming from the pyramid. The sounds of chains, many, many chains accompanied it.

"**LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT HUMAN!"** _That sounds worse than Deidara after an art debate._ Walking towards it, I see a giant raccoon, dog, raccoon, dog, raccoon? Made of sand, almost as big as the pyramid itself. It had black marks running across its skin, like it had been scarred, or something similar to those curse marks of Konoha Sasori-sensei made me read about. Was this the Shukaku?

Suna no Shukaku, the Ichibi no Tanuki was sealed into me after all, this giant mass must be it. If it were as Sasori-sensei said, this beast would amplify my Jiton, and probably grant me the same type of control that some of the past Kazekage had over various metals.

**_Flashback_**

"Sasori-sensei, why am I reading about the Sandaime, Yondaime, and Godaime Kazekage?" Sasori had given me three scrolls a day ago, with the Kanji "San Kaze", "Yon Kaze", and "Go Kaze". These scrolls gave details about the abilities and lives of the third, fourth, and fifth Kazekage, all of which shared the same trait of Jiton – the same magnet release that flows through my chakra coils. With the information in these scrolls, I could easily recreate their jutsu, using Iron, Gold, Sand, or some other substitute material. If I controlled the Ichibi enough after it was sealed into me, perhaps I could even…

**_Flashback End_**

"**LET ME OUT, YOU TINY PEST!" **_Oh right, he's still here._ If the Shukaku was here right now, that meant I must be inside of my mindscape. I looked over at the Ichibi, also remembering that it was supposedly insane. I knew beforehand that a first impression could be the best thing to solidify good relations. Perhaps kindness would be the best solution?

"Hello Shukaku. My name is Hanran and as of now, I'm your Jinchuriki. Would you prefer a different arrangement for your seal?" I asked, sitting cross-legged on the floor, trying my best not to show any of the panic I was feeling inside. "**I HATE CHAINS. YOU HUMANS CONTINUE CHAINING ME UP!"** If this was my mindscape, I would surely be able to change it at will; perhaps I could fulfill Shukaku's wanting without causing too much trouble. Focusing on my mindscape, I designed the room to be more homely to Shukaku. Now instead of a pyramid, the structure in the desert became a sand cave with the Ichibi inside, strangely relaxed by the sensation of a desert wind cooling down its cozy cave.

"Better?" Shukaku opened one eye, and though I could still feel its anger present, it seemed much lazier and more content. "**GO. LEAVE. WANT ALONE. NOW."** Not wanting to get off on the wrong foot, I nodded and walked out of the cave, watching as the world blurred into darkness and I felt as though I was waking up.

**_Pein's POV – The day after Dan's escape_**

"Pein-sama. I believe we may need to **change our plans**." Konan and I looked up at Zetsu's slightly nervous white side, my eyes widening slightly. "Why do you say that, Zetsu?" Asked Konan, her eyes narrowing. **"The future Nanabi **may not be easy to capture." I looked at Zetsu incredulously. The Akatsuki were used to hunting down Bijuu, I myself had wiped out the entire upper echelon including Hanzo of the Salamander himself. I had destroyed dozens of ANBU in one fell swoop in my first use of the Gedo Mazou. Deidara and Sasori had captured the Gobi Jinchuriki even after he transformed into his 3-tailed state, which increased the Jinchuriki's power by a huge margin. Itachi's Sharingan and Kisame's Samehada had removed any opposition by the former Nanabi, Fuu. The Akatsuki each had a bloody and risky history, and Zetsu knew this. Why then, would Zetsu insist on changing operations when the Akatsuki were more than prepared to capture Bijuu despite the cost?

"You know, Zetsu, there had better be a good reason for insisting something so incredibly unlikely. Why would a civilian be so much trouble?" Zetsu looked at the ground before opening his mouth and beginning to speak.

**_Dan's POV_**

I looked at a map of the city with Cassandra while reading Tom's document with all of the Akatsuki information. Luckily, he hadn't reacted too much when the news of an Akatsuki capture had happened.

**_Flashback – Earlier this morning _**

"Webcam works, mic is on… Tom is everything working on your end?" I said as I sat down.

"Everything looks good, Dan. What's going on? Your text said something along the lines of 'urgency'. Ooh and I see a pretty girl who is she who is sheeeeee?" Tom asked. I nodded tiredly and sighed. Cassandra looked up at the comment and walked over as I grabbed another chair and put it by the computer. She sat down and observed the conversation.

"Remember how you proved I have some of the abilities of that Naruto series?" Tom nodded, clearly curious where I was heading with this. "I was captured by a group from there, they called themselves the Akatsuki." Tom looked at me, probably questioning if I was out of my mind. "I mastered a few jutsu and tried escaping one of their members, a blue skinned giant named Kisame with a giant bandaged sword that likes eating energy. I failed and was inside their makeshift base for a while until I teamed up with Cassandra" Cassandra nodded and waved a little bit, clearly creeped out by the Akatsuki guru, "and we pulled off an escape, even though we nearly died a few times. We have injuries from their weapons and information if you need any proof…" Tom raised an eyebrow curiously.

"I know you're pretty honest, but can I see some anyhow?" I consented placed my fingers in a cross. **_"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"_** A clone of me appeared and I quickly punched it, dispelling it. Then I lifted up my sweatshirt, showing the heavy bandaging all over me. Tom was about to comment about how some of the bandages looked very fresh, but I cut him off. "This is from Kisame's capture of me, which wasn't too long ago. The most recent bandaging is from his so-called training, which involved me trying the Gale Palm against him, among other things. I failed and he smashed me in close-quarters combat."

Tom frowned. "Is that why you have a sword behind you?" Looking behind me, I saw that the sword Kisame had given me. _'I forgot I brought that with me…_' I thought, before turning back to Tom. "Kisame gave me the sword for training, that's the only reason he didn't clobber me on the spot. I get the feeling he likes toying with someone once he's established he's the better fighter. Tom grimly nodded.

"That sounds a lot like Kisame. I'll send you the info, just be careful. I don't like the idea of the Akatsuki after you. Do you know what they want?" I nodded before I recalled all of my info.

"They were rambling about someone they kept calling 'That damn sage' who sent them to this world. They also were talking about sealing things called Bijuu into people to make them into Jin… Jin… I don't even know anymore." Tom perked up and his eyes hardened.

"Jinchuriki?" I looked up and Cassandra focused in, we both nodded. "Jinchuriki are ninja with a Bijuu sealed inside of them. In the Naruto series, the Akatsuki are hunting for all nine Bijuu, but they lost many members in the process. Who is in the organization?" I counted all nine members and Tom frowned before closing his eyes and focusing. "Does Itachi seem sick at all, and do you know what they were doing before they were forced out?" I looked at Tom and answered, pondering what I had learned from overhearing and discussion.

"Deidara and Sasori were heading to the sand to capture the Ichibi, Kakuzu and Hidan were off gaining info about the Nibi, Itachi and Kisame were hunting bandits of some kind." Tom's face briefly showed understanding as he rubbed his eyes and started murmuring. "In that case, they probably started right before the Shippudden era. That means the entire timeline is messed up, and…" Tom finished thinking and nodded. "I'll get to work on that list as soon as possible. Expect it in a few hours." I nodded to Tom as Cassandra and I both gave thanks to him and we closed the chat.

**_Flashback – END_**

"Dan, what do you think we will do when the Akatsuki inevitably show up?" I looked at the laptop, classifying the ways the Akatsuki duos worked.

"Sasori and Deidara seem to work best outside of close combat. Supposedly Sasori's puppet Hiruko makes up for his weakness in taijutsu, and Deidara supposedly can hold his own against a team of close combat and weapons specialists even with both of his arms blown off. Despite this, he also can fly on clay creations like dragons and birds to gain some range on his opponents. I'm going to say that they work best as a long-range assault duo, but I guess they could be used as support with another team. To beat them we'd probably have to resort to some type of close combat, and even so we'd probably be outclassed.

"Hidan and Kakuzu are both 'Immortal', Hidan in the literal sense and Kakuzu with five hearts, his primary one enables earth jutsu. Hidan could also exploit his immortality by using Jashinist jutsu to force a mutual strike. Kakuzu can also exploit Hidan's immortality by using huge techniques and not having to worry about Hidan's wellbeing. For Kakuzu, we'd somehow have to get rid of the four removable hearts even while they can look after each other and Kakuzu. After that, we'd have to remove Kakuzu himself in hand-to-hand combat, assuming Hidan didn't jump in. Because Hidan can't be killed, we'd have to remove him from Kakuzu so he can't be stitched back up. We'd also have to avoid losing any blood. Tom also suggested removing his head from his body and putting it somewhere no one would ever find it. These two are attrition fighters.

"Itachi and Kisame may be the worst of the group. I've seen Kisame's prowess with water jutsu firsthand, and I've had my mind probed by Itachi's sharingan. Neither experience is fun. Kisame's sword drains chakra and he has the chakra levels of a Bijuu himself, what the hell? His water jutsu are on an enormous scale, and a few key jutsu can act similar to Samehada in chakra draining? Kenjutsu master, member of the Seven Swordsmen, the rest of this I've heard before. Itachi is a master of fire jutsu and genjutsu, he has a special kunai and shuriken jutsu that can hit anyone's blind spots, and Sharingan has the ability to suppress Bijuu chakra. These two are equipped to deal with heavy-duty opponents, and their styles work and guard each other against harm. These two are an assault duo. Tom thinks that Pein and Konan won't attack due to the instability of being in a new world. Therefore, we only have to worry about one of those pairs coming at us." I closed my laptop and sighed, looking at the map. "Now where should we-"

"You know, that is very good information, but information can only take you so far, hehe." Said a maliciously happy voice from right behind the duo. I felt my eyes widen and my body freeze, Cassandra did the same. "Kisame, it appears you're even more frightening to them now that they know you." _Fuck._ I turned around and saw the dreaded duo, Itachi and Kisame. "Hello Dan-kun, Cassandra-chan. I believe you're coming with us now." Said Itachi, neutrally but with Mangekyou Sharingan active. _Of all the Akatsuki to get stuck with…_ Kisame placed Samehada on my shoulder, grinning again. "You come with us now, and it will be much less painful. If you disagree, I'm sure that Samehada will love shredding the both of you apart. Maybe if it's lucky I'll give them that tiny brat that your family took with him." My eyes widened again, and Cassandra placed her hands above her head, as Itachi bound them. Looking at both of us, Itachi's sharingan whirred around. _Huh, I'm tired… wait, tired? Sharingan based Genjutsu?_

**_Itachi's POV_**

"I'll carry them, Itachi-san." Kisame said, throwing the now unconscious Cassandra and Dan over his shoulders. _Interesting. _I thought, as I thought about Dan's reasons for leaving. _I have a little brother too. Perhaps he was doing something for the brother? _I looked at Dan, and remembered how much I would do to protect my little brother. I could sacrifice everything, if only to help him. Perhaps Dan was the same way, willing to risk his life by standing up to Kisame like that. Either way, I had gained just a little bit of respect for the future Sanbi Jinchuriki.

**_Pein's POV_**

Zetsu's description of the future Nanabi Jinchuriki's abilities was very troubling. "Are you positive this is true?"

"**Yes** Leader-sama. That Kekkei Genkai is active, **and is being actively harnessed. **We don't know if our **presence has been compromised.**" I looked down slightly before thinking about the solutions. _We need that Kekkei Genkai on our side, but the risks of being seen are way too high. These are the times I still wish we had Madara with us._ "I'm going in." I said, knowing Konan would be temporary leader in my stead. "Zetsu, you will assist me. If your powers can cancel out hers, or you can approach from underneath her and distract…" Zetsu nodded, understanding my plan, and sinking into the ground.

"Konan, you're in charge while I'm gone." I didn't need to see Konan's nod to know her reaction. I leapt out of the window, following Zetsu's chakra signature.

**_One Jumping Scene Later…_**

I saw the target and felt my eyes widen. She looked like a carbon copy of Hashirama Senju in female form; long black hair that went down to her knees, brown skin, and dark eyes. "You there, I come on behalf of my organization. If you join us, we can offer power, companions, and much more. If you refuse, we will bring you in by force." She looked at my Rinnegan, definitely worried about the sight of purple ringed eyes and me. "What organization are you representing, and what's with those eyes?" I looked at her before giving all the information I needed to.

"I represent the Akatsuki, and you have power that can be tapped into and used at your own leisure, but to say the least, my organization is not from here. We need to fulfill certain requirements to return to our homeland, and your cooperation is one of those requirements." She raised an eyebrow in speculation.

"And what happens if I decide not to?" I raised an eyebrow this time and said, "I will bring you along by force if necessary."

She tensed. As for why I was not looking forward to this encounter, she had gotten a few of Hashirama's key jutsu, on a much smaller scale. "**_Mokuton: Jukai Kotan!"_** Zetsu was indeed right in his worries. This opponent was indeed worrisome. If too many trees sprouted up, the city would have high alert, and any damage they did risked having the city investigate. _'Zetsu, NOW!' _I commanded through my ring, as I heard the frightened gasp of the Mokuton user having her arms pinned behind her by the freaky plant-man. Jumping down, I took one look at her before noticing that despite her arm being held behind her, she had a fire of determination, and curiosity?

"You are obviously very skilled. In fact, you are the second* person to have mastered the Wood Release in modern history. Your eyes have fire in them, which will do well for your task. As for how you know Mokuton Jutsu, I'm sure you'll spill all of your secrets when Itachi gets his hands on you." I saw the girl's eyes widen, it seemed that she knew more than we had bargained for. "As for now, you will get some peace before your questioning. Sleep!" I said, as I hit a pressure point, which caused her to collapse.

"What do you want **us to do, Leader-sama?"** I looked over at Zetsu, thinking about the issues that had lead to Cassandra and Dan running away. "Take her to her room, prepare a sleeping bag and mat for her, and then be sympathetic and gain her favor. Your goal is to be a pillar that makes her want to stay rather than force her to. If that doesn't work, I will use fear, and I believe Itachi will have something up his sleeve." Zetsu nodded and vanished into the ground, taking the girl with him.

**_One trip back to base later… Third Person POV_**

Zetsu entered his room and set up a second sleeping bag and mat. Going over to his collection of plants, he picked a leaf off of a choice herb. When put under someone's nose, it often caused people to react in an unexpected manner, like waking up without any prompt to. As Zetsu was about to use the herb, he hesitated. _If I'm going to be the good guy in this situation, shouldn't I prepare something for her? Pein did hit her pretty hard, and using a Mokuton jutsu of that scale drains a lot out of me, never mind a civilian who recently unlocked her bloodline… Speaking of which, how did she get that bloodline, and who taught her how to use it? Maybe if I make food of some kind and spike it with something she'll tell me automatically? And when she does, I can be a good person and congratulate her, and I'll knock out two birds with one stone! This is the type of plan Madara would do!_

For the next twenty minutes, Zetsu went to work. First, he looked in the Akatsuki's fridge for any foods he could give with his limited knowledge of how the kitchen worked, and his limited abilities with anything culinary that excluded human flesh. A package of Sushi that Kisame had bought for later? Good. A small bottle of soy sauce, also good. Some yellow mess called 'Potato salad' was also pulled from the fridge. _This will be a good vessel for whatever I'm going to use to fulfill my mission._ Finally, Zetsu filled up a cup with water and brought everything in, making sure to apply just enough of the vial Sasori had given him for situations like these, where Zetsu had to do an interrogation while making his opponent believe he was willingly giving answers forward.

Grabbing a tray, Zetsu placed the sushi package, the bottle of soy sauce, the water, and the potato salad on, and placed the tray a few feet away from her. Grabbing the herb, he placed it under her nose and was quiet, as she breathed in, and her eyes immediately snapped open as she breathed quickly and heavily. "Are you **alright?**" Asked Zetsu, taking on his role as caretaker for the time being. The girl took a second to look at Zetsu, clearly piecing together where she had seen him before, and…

"You're one of those people who attacked me!" She yelled, causing Zetsu to flinch slightly. He put both hands in front of him, trying to calm her down. "Please **calm down.** Our leader overreacted, and **we felt guilty**. **We knew you'd be drained, **so we made food for you too." Conveniently as Zetsu said this, her stomach growled and she looked over at the food. "You shouldn't move around too much, your body wasn't ready to handle a technique of that size** and now it's facing the consequences.**" She frowned, and Zetsu quickly handed her the tray.

"How long have I been out?" Zetsu turned to her and gave a small smile as he spoke. "**How about this.** We'll tell you something you want to know if **you tell us something we want to know. **Does that sound okay?" She frowned but nodded as she started consuming her lunch. **"You've been out for about an hour and a half, **we managed to get back to base fairly quickly, and we spent most of our** time waiting for you to wake up. Now, **what is your name?" She looked up at me, and said "Senhana. What's yours?" The plant man blinked and replied "Zetsu/**Zetsu**."

The interrogation continued. "**How did you know **about Mokuton jutsu, Senhana?" She looked at me and replied, "I was given a scroll by a floating old guy. He definitely wasn't human. He had a huge white beard and horns sticking out of his forehead, his eyes were ringed just like the orange haired man and he had a third eye sticking out of his forehead, which was red." Inside their head, the two halves of Zetsu were having very different thoughts. _The Rikudo Sennin is responsible again? Choosing a name like "Sage flower", along with Mokuton jutsu and that resemblance both physical and in chakra to Hashirama… Combining those abilities with a Bijuu, she could easily become the next Shinobi no Kami! __**Damn you, Hagoromo. You placed a carbon copy of Hashirama and Ashura right here. Do you know about me, or is this some type of sick coincidence?**_ "Now, are those two halves of you different people or are you just bipolar?" The two halves of Zetsu looked at her before sighing. "Two **separate **entities. **We are two,** but we are one. **We are Zetsu/** We are Zetsu." The two halves spoke in unity.

A few seconds after, Senhana finished her food and stood up, feeling some of her strength regained. "Your rate of recovery is **similar to Hashirama's.**" She looked confused. "Hashirama? He's the one who made the forest power right?" Zetsu nodded. "**Of sorts,** Hashirama came from a clan called the Senju who possessed that ability, **which is called the Mokuton Kekkei Genkai.** All shinobi have a chakra nature, **of which there are five kinds: fire, **water, **earth**, wind, **and lightning.** The Senju clan possessed incredible water chakra, **and Hashirama was born with exceptional earth style.** He developed the Mokuton to its highest degree in recorded history. **After him, no other Mokuton users have ever been the found, with two exceptions.**" Senhana raised an eyebrow. "I'm one of them, right? Who's the other?" In response, Zetsu channeled his chakra into a nearby plant, causing it to rapidly grow and bloom. "We are the **second exception."** Senhana looked at Zetsu with curiosity and leaned in, whispering a question. "Could you teach me more?" Zetsu's white half smiled as the plant-thing nodded, before hearing giggling and speech going on a few rooms down.

"What's going on in there?" Senhana asked, as they heard the laughing increase in noise level. "**We have a few idiots in the organization**. Their names are Deidara and his apprentice Adam. **They enjoy blowing things up.**" Senhana looked with some concern. "Are you sure they won't blow up this room by accident? Speaking of which, where am I?" Zetsu looked around before opening the door and pointing outside. Senhana looked outside and looked at the bedroom-like use of Zetsu's office. "You all live here? How'd you pull that off?" After she finished her first question she looked at the barricade the Akatsuki had set up. "Some of our members were not **very pleased to be here**. They escaped by jumping out of the window. **I don't know how they survived, but apparently they did it even while injured.** Kisame and Itachi had to hunt them down, **they weren't happy to do it in the slightest." **

"Why's that?"

"**The mastermind of the escape was Kisame's apprentice.**" As he finished speaking, Zetsu's eyes widened as they detected a new chakra signature enter the city, quite a while away. _Not one_, thought Zetsu, _at least ten chakra signatures!_ "Something has come up. **It appears unexpected visitors have arrived.** How though? **How am I supposed to know?** Lets find Pein." Senhana looked lost at their internal argument as Zetsu ran into Pein's office.

"Pein-sama, I just picked up **at least ten unidentified chakra signatures!"** Pein looked up, completely alert. "Discover who they are, Zetsu." The plant man could only nod as he vanished into the ground and moved towards the newcomers.

**_In Deidara's room…_**

"This is the perfect plan, un. Our art will rule today!"

**Author's note: End**

**Did I make Senhana too powerful? If so, don't worry; the others will catch up in no time at all. **

**Who are these strangers? What are they here for? Are they even relevant to the story?**

**Also, the next chapter WILL be a 'fun' chapter. Here's a hint: look at the last sentence of this chapter.**

***Pein does not know about Yamato, and I don't count the era of warring clans as 'Modern' for Pein.**

**Also, is my portrayal of Zetsu okay? He doesn't have the 'flow' that Kisame or Itachi does, or even someone like Sasori for that matter. If I'm messing up in my portrayal, by all means call me out.**

**Also, I'm trying to branch out and apply this story for communities, does anyone know of a few Akatsuki-based community which does NOT revolve around Akatsuki x OC or some other pairing? It's been driving me crazy trying to some and so far I've only found one. If anyone finds one or owns a community like that, please PM me.**

**Wishing you all happiness and all that stuff, ~KoS**


	11. Chapter 11: Sealings and Secrets!

**Author's note:**

**Some new faces have followed this story; thank you **tenshi0, The Dimensional Reader, **and **ZellaLaBella**!** **I also got two new 'favorites' for this story from **_sain713 _**and **_tenshi0_**! Thank you both! In addition, this story was added to its first communities, thanks to **ZellaLaBella **and **The Dimensional Reader**. This really is a good list of things happening this chapter.**

**And I am so sorry this chapter took so long. These past few weeks have utterly screwed me over, just in terms of energy and writing capability. Projects and tests and all sorts of horrible things. (For those of you who would like to know, this is the longest chapter I've written so far, with 4733 words.**

**Firstly, we know there are five elements, and a Kekkei Genkai can't be itself x itself (ie fire x fire is not a kekkei genkai). That goes from 25 options (5x5 grid) to 20, and considering 10 are mirroring images… (ie: fire x water and water x fire are the same Kekkei Genkai), there are only 10 actual Kekkei Genkai. Of those, a few are defined (Ice, Wood, Scorch, Storm, Boil, Lava), with a few left blank.**

**To **_princessbinas_**: You gave me an idea for this chapter and I am so happy. I would hug you and spin you around until you got dizzy because I'm so happy.**

**To **_Arcami:_** Tobito needs a break sometimes, doesn't he? He can't constantly be the bad guy every minute of every day. And I don't think the Jinchuriki would work well together. Can you imagine Utakata or Gaara surviving anything more than a few hours in Killer Bee's presence? Gaara would practically go into his PTS killing spree self if he had to endure THAT.**

**To **_The Dimensional Reader: _**I'll do my best – thanks for the support and the C2 addition!**

**To **_cassjo_**: Thanks, I hope it stays strong too :).**

**_Deidara's POV – Right after Senhana's capture_**

"Look at the beauty of that art, Deidara-sensei!" Adam and I were looking at the TV Adam had suggested buying. Right now, we were on a news channel, viewing the fruits of my labors come to life. The size of the explosion was magnificent. What was the best part of this whole affair was how the news and law enforcement of this world were making futile suggestions as to how such an explosion was possible without anyone seeing anything. To the people of this world, shinobi-level stealth was just unfair. Just as we were about to laugh some more about the 'mysterious' explosion, I received an order.

_All Akatsuki members meet me with your charges as soon as possible in the sealing space._ Leader communicated to me right as I finished doing artistic planning with my fellow _correct_ artist, Adam. "Adam. Leader is summoning us, un." Adam groaned just like I was mentally and we walked up a floor to the garage on the roof, seeing all the other Akatsuki members standing on our stands.

"We have detected ten chakra signatures which have joined this world. Does anyone have any intel on what may or may not have happened? We received a letter from the Rikudo Sennin that merely said 'Your members are responsible'. Who would like to claim that responsibility?" _Shit. Un._

**_Flashback_**

"Okay, Adam. We're going to train." Adam looked up, confused.

"Training? What for? Can't we design more art? We have another firework display soon…" I shook my head.

"Your art lovers are important, but we must defeat our artistic rivals* and show them the glory of one flash, an explosion, un!" Adam's eyes got a glint as soon as the word explosion was involved.

"I'm creating a smaller version of my C3 explosive, and the seals I've put on this thing will amplify its power exponentially! An explosion that could destroy a city in one fell swoop, un!" Adam's mouth formed a perfect 'O' as he imagined the explosive powers of this artistic masterpiece. Going onto the roof of the building with Adam, I spit out a clay bird with my hands, and used my chakra to expand it.

"It's time to make art and put those puppet-lovers to shame!" As the both of us jumped on my clay bird, I saw an orange-headed figure walking up to us. Leader-sama?

"Deidara, what are you doing?"

"We're making ART, un! We're gonna go on the outskirts of town and test out my new C3 bomb, a smaller, denser, and seal-filled masterpiece which will be my pride and joy!" Leader face-palmed and looked at me with serious eyes.

"If you somehow screw this up, it's on you." I nodded and flew off.

**_Flashback – End_**

"We believe that a distortion in the space-time continuum may have resulted in this problem." I felt sweat glistening on my forehead.

**_Flashback_**

"DEIDARA, THIS IS BAD!" Adam and I looked at the explosion, as all the seals on the bomb loosened. At the same time.

"Calm down Adam, un. This might not be so bad!" Adam pointed towards the bomb.

"The space around the bomb is being sucked in! What the hell did you do to this thing!" I felt embarrassment, knowing I may have messed up. Can creating better art than I wanted to be considered as messing up? Oh yes, Adam's question.

"I may or may not have added more seals on the way here, un." Adam's eyes were fully wide as he was gaping at me. "What?" I asked, irritated.

"Lets get out of here!" I didn't need to hear that twice. Adam and I pumped our chakra into the bird, making it fly faster than ever. We escaped as soon as we could, before collapsing in our room and, at Adam's request, turning the news channel on.

**_Flashback - End_**

"I seem to recall news about an explosion right after I allowed two of you to leave the base. Would you two like to reveal yourselves now, or will I have to drag you out before everyone?" I sweated even more as I stepped off the podium and dragged Adam with me into the center. I could feel 14 pairs of eyes drilling into us, clearly annoyed but not surprised at our actions.

"Why am I not surprised, brat?" Asked the hunchbacked form of Sasori's puppet, Hiruko.

"Don't be mad, Danna. I swear it was just an accident!" Sasori looked at the two of us with amusement and annoyance. Almost as soon as I finished saying it was an accident, several other Akatsuki members started expressing their rage. Hidan started yelling something about Jashin and clay, Kakuzu started complaining about his money, Zetsu was asking if any bodies were left from the explosion, and Adam and I started yelling our protests to their maltreatment of us.

"SILENCE!" Yelled Leader-sama, instantly quieting everyone down, "The first order of business is to seal the Nibi inside of Cassandra, the Sanbi inside of Dan, and the Yonbi inside of Clara." Instantly, Cassandra and Dan tensed, their eyes narrowing. "In exchange for cooperating, we will ensure low level scrolls and training go to Dan's otuoto so he can defend himself." The two suspicious trainees weren't totally happy with the plan, but Pein's second statement had at least calmed them down a bit.

"Leader-sama, is there any information about who these attackers are? Has Zetsu or another sensory type verified their identities?" Pein nodded, tossing a bingo book to Kisame.

"This book will tell you all that you need to know. Their identities have been verified, but there's only limited information about our enemies. I would also like to make a proposition". Making the ram hand seal, Pein communicated his plan. _Dan's loyalty is questioning. I'd like to force him into fighting the enemy, even if it's just for a brief amount of time. I believe his Kekkei Genkai has yet to be unlocked because he hasn't been in a dire enough situation to force it out. Also, if our enemies lock onto him as the enemy, he'll need assistance, which is where Kisame will pop in. Once he recognizes he needs help, there's a chance he'll become a lot like those charges that are loyal to their teachers. _Kisame nodded, approving of the plan. Everyone else who heard the message nodded, quickly followed by myself.

"It's time to start the sealings. Hanran, Clara, Adam, Senhana, and Jessica will ensure that Dan does not escape. You will keep him in this same room. Itachi, you will use a genjutsu on Cassandra to ensure that the sealing goes without a hitch. The last thing we want is an angry Bijuu rampaging through the city and alerting the enemies to our presence." Everyone did as was ordered – the sealing began.

**_Hours later…_**

The newly sealed Nibi Jinchuriki was asleep in Hidan's room an hour after the sealing finished.

"Well done, everyone. Once Dan has the Sanbi he'll most likely have an affinity for Suiton, so Kisame, set aside some Jutsu for him. We know he'll need it. Before we take a rest, you should look at the bingo book and prepare for the next stage of our plan to play out." Kisame nodded and left to his room. I, knowing that my fellow Akatsuki would be angry with me about my failure, quickly went into my room to have a little peace. After all, peace was never present when enemy shinobi were around.

**_Kisame's POV_**

I flipped through the book Pein gave me, and noticed that several pages were marked in the Konoha section. Flipping to the first one, I saw one of the few memorable leaf-nin I had come across; Maito Gai. Among them were other faces I recognized from that occasion: The son of the Sandaine Hokage, Asuma Sarutobi, The Genjutsu mistress of Konoha, Kurenai Yuuhi. Sharingan no Kakashi, Two of the members of the Yondaime Hokage's guard platoon (**A/N: Genma and Raidou**). Among their number were a couple of Kenjutsu wielding Jonin and two ANBU, both of them being captains.

If Dan were to have any chance of winning, it would be with a heavy quantity of Suiton jutsu. Not enough Fuuton jutsu that would be effective are at our disposal. In that case, once we seal the Sanbi, I can teach him some more Kenjutsu and combine his training with Mizu Bunshin. Perhaps then he would be of use as my apprentice. As I prepared to take a well-deserved nap, I heard cursing and the sound of puppet pieces falling apart. Chuckling to myself, I closed my eyes and listened to the bloodbath that was about to occur.

**_Deidara's POV_**

"Deidara, didn't we set up a prank for Sasori-sensei last night?' I looked at Adam and realized that we had set up a prank for Sasori no Danna.

"Yeah, un. Why do you ask?" Adam pointed towards Sasori's room and put his ear to the wall. Upon listening, I heard a few small explosions, puppet pieces falling apart, and a few expletives.

"Adam, which puppet did you rig, un?" Adam thought for a second and then responded.

"That hunchback one he uses for transportation, why?" My eyes widened and realized what would happen next.

"Adam, you're a fucking idiot, un. That's one of his favorite puppets, Hiruko! He's gonna kill us if he realizes it was us!" Just as I was about to throttle my explosive friend, a new voice as cold as ice spoke.

"Perhaps I should replace Hiruko with you, Adam? Or perhaps I should use Deidara since it was his clay that funded your little playtime?" Both of us froze at the sound of an angry Sasori no Danna.

"Danna, un. Calm down please?" Sasori looked at the both of us with a wicked smile on his face.

"I'll give you five seconds to prepare for me. If either one of you tries leaving the room, I start early. Sound like a deal?"

**_Kisame's POV_**

"AAAAAAGH! AAAAAAAAAGH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" I gave my usual sharky grin as I listened. Nothing's better than the sound of terror in the morning.

**_Hanran's POV_**

_'There goes Sasori-sensei again. His Sandaime Kazekage puppet is in here, I wonder if I could…'_

**_Sasori's POV_**

**'**_Torturing those two is so much fun. I really should make art out of them.'_

**_Pein's POV_**

"Konan, do you have the antidote for Sasori's poison?" Konan nodded, eyes serious. "I have a feeling Deidara and Adam will need liberal doses of it. Can I trust you and Jessica to administer it?" Konan nodded again. I closed my eyes and tried getting some rest, considering Dan's sealing was coming up soon. _'Dan's sealing…._' I thought, _it could finish our mission in one fell swoop._' With that thought, I smiled and rested.

**_Hanran's POV_**

I looked over at the broken puppet known as Hiruko. Looking at where the explosions took place, I noted that most of the explosions took place in joints, and only joints. _This could be properly repaired with the right mold, and some metal…_ Looking around, I saw Sasori's prized puppet, the Sandaime Kazekage hanging from a drawer. Perhaps there was a way to salvage the situation.

**_One day later – The Sealing Space: Pein's POV_**

_'We have six days until we move out against the intruders. As of now, we are sealing the Sanbi into Dan to prepare him for the fight. Is everyone ready for this jutsu?_

A chorus of 'Hai' followed, from all the Akatsuki through their rings, as we all moved up the stairs to our sealing space, ready for a tiring sealing. Compared to extracting Bijuu from hosts, this process was actually a piece of cake. A strange part of this whole fiasco was how sickly Dan looked when he entered the room for the sealing, and promptly asked for permission to leave the base for a bit once Sanbi was inside him. Narrowing my eyes, I channeled chakra to my ring. _Kisame, Dan's asking permission to leave base for a bit, and he does not look well. Did you do something to him?_ The confused frown on Kisame's face spoke his answer, and I knew that whatever my decision was would make or break Dan's slightly improving relationship with the Akatsuki.

_I will give him permission to go, but you have to follow him from a distance, Kisame. I want to know what's going on with him, lest it be something we need to know about._ Kisame gave a subtle nod as I spoke to Dan. "You may leave after the sealing is done, but you must stay for at least an hour for us to check the seal." Dan blanched and replied, "Thirty minutes." I gave a suspicious look and nodded, as Dan sat down and prepared for the sealing. As everyone assembled, the future and current Jinchuriki took their usual positions, except for one. Hanran was missing, and when I asked Sasori about it, he simply replied "Magnet release practice." If it were anyone else, I would have been suspicious about what he was up to, but Hanran had proven his loyalty to the Akatsuki, and more specifically to Sasori.

Cassandra had a far-off look, meaning she was either under genjutsu or in her mindscape with the Nibi, and I was more inclined to believe the latter. Clara was once again standing behind Itachi, creating their chakra connection to support Itachi's small reserves. Adam was staying as far away from Sasori has possible in the room – the anger of the puppetmaster clearly gave more of an impact than I had thought possible. Jessica was watching Dan curiously, it seemed I was not the only one who had noticed his sickly look today. Senhana was sitting between Adam and Jessica, sleeping. I approached the statue that held all of the Bijuu. We had rested and prepared, and I was curious to know what was affecting Dan so much. The sealing had to begin.

**_One sealing later – Isobu's POV_**

My new Jinchuriki's mindscape had yet to be determined. Until he would greet me himself, I decided to look at him physically and mentally. Conflicts with people his age riddled his mindscape, showing me that he was protective of friends and especially of his little brother. He was not too physically strong, and uses under-the-table tactics to fight against much stronger and more numerous opponents. I looked at a darker piece of his mindscape, and felt shock, even for a Bijuu. _What in the Six Paths is this? Such destruction, and no one sees it? How interesting…_

Pulling my attention away from my musings, I saw from my Jinchuriki's eyes the one who had sealed me, and he was now inspecting the seal. I knew it would take a while for this Rinnegan-eyed fellow to be satisfied, so I decided the best thing I could do was take a small nap until he finished. After that, I would see exactly what was going on with my host. Yes, that sounded like a good plan.

**_Kisame's POV_**

After thirty minutes, Leader gave Dan the green light, as promised. The first thing he did was ask to be brought to the ground, given the fact that he didn't have any way to get down. He looked even sicker than before. Nodding, Leader pointed towards me. Opening the window, Dan grabbed onto me and we jumped out. _Strange_, I noted. _He doesn't seem to react much to heights. His mind isn't on the descent. _I dropped him and shunshin'd off to a building a hundred feet away from Dan.

The first thing I noticed about the unusual Sanbi Jinchuriki was the fact that his movements were erratic and dizzy, like someone had drugged him. Secondly, he was moving towards the school he attended, despite today being a weekend. The streets where he was walking were deserted, and he seemed to be taking lots of effort to walk even a few feet. After this point, Dan walked right up to his school and made a familiar turn to Kisame. _That's the same place he was going when he tried to outrun me, what's he doing?_ Following him unseen, I took note of another presence in the area. Turning towards it, I saw the future Rokubi, silently moving after him. _I wonder what she's up to._ I grinned, thinking about what an interesting turn of events this had been, and kept moving through the trees, towards Dan.

**_Isobu's POV – A/N: For those who have queasy stomachs, beware and/or skip._**

This was going to be a disgusting process. Using my chakra, I stabilized my Jinchuriki's internal organs on the way to his destination. This entire affair would be messy, and even though my Jinchuriki didn't know it, we had spectators. In this new world, I wasn't going to be too harsh on my Jinchuriki, perhaps we would get along for once, like Yagura before that damn Sharingan took control of him. _This is it_. I thought, as I watched my Jinchuriki stop. And then the coughing started.

Whatever was inside Dan's system was eating him inside out. The blood being coughed up was proof of that. It was darker and more clotted than usual blood, and the sheer _amount_ being coughed up was enough to raise eyebrows. Sending my chakra to his organs, I used my demonic chakra to purge all of the exposed disease in his system, guessing that the purpose of expelling it all from the system _was_ to expose the disease. **_"Jinchuriki, what are you doing?"_** I asked from inside his mindscape, forcing Dan to enter. **_(A/N: You can read now. Disgusting scene is ENDED.)_**

**"Jinchuriki, I ask again, what are you doing?"** I asked from behind my cage, as the form of Dan appeared, looking much healthier in his mindscape than outside. "You must be the Sanbi, am I right?" Asked Dan, looking directly at me. "**That I am, Jinchuriki. I am the Sanbi no Kame, what do you think you're doing by forcing that blood up?"** He looked up and answered. "I believe the disease tries attacking in waves, and the more blood I cough up, the longer it takes the disease to recoup and attack again." I decided to test my Jinchuriki, to see if he was honest enough to greet me. "**What is your name?**" Even though I already knew it, I wanted to see what Dan would say. "My name is Dan, could you tell me yours, Sanbi-san?" It was a start. I wasn't nearly as proud as Kyuubi or Hachibi, but as a Bijuu and a creation of the Rikudo Sennin… I had reason to be proud.

"**My name is Isobu, but in front of others, address me as Sanbi-sama. That name is a secret which I only give to those I deem worthy." **Dan thought this over and replied with a quick "Hai." "**Now, Dan, I believe a couple of people may be watching you purge the illness in yourself, and my chakra is running through your body, dispersing this abomination. I suggest you depart this mindscape until we can meet again to discuss the changes my presence brings to our situations." **Dan nodded and departed after giving a short bow. Turning my attention towards the outside, I awaited Dan's excuses for such a travesty, especially considering the lengths he went to in order to keep it quiet.

**_Dan's POV_**

I opened my eyes, noting that I had already coughed up my limit of blood, and sat down, leaning against a nearby tree, closing my eyes and enjoying a few seconds of peace. _Cleaning up all this blood is going to be such a pain. As I am now, the odds of getting back to the Akatsuki without provoking suspicion are about zero, never mind the fact that 'a couple of people' are watching. One of them had better not be –_

"Want to explain something, hehe?" _Fuck my life._ I opened my eyes and saw the shark-like grin of Kisame Hoshigaki staring down at me, Samehada on his back. _To respond, or not to respond? Damnit, I'm too tired to think straight._ "What do you want?" I replied, noting that my voice was slurring a little. "Whom are you hiding this from? You honestly didn't think we wouldn't see your change in health?" _Should I be honest with Kisame, Isobu?_ For a second after I thought that, I thought Isobu had simply left me to my own devices before I heard the monster turtle's words; '**_Find out what he's after first. Once we discern what side he's on, the judgment should be clearer._****' **I looked up at Kisame and asked my question.

"Why do you want to know?" My voice was still slurring. Damnit. Kisame crouched down so that he was only a foot or so taller than me. "I'm curious if you're hiding this from the Akatsuki as a whole, your fellow Jinchuriki, or someone outside this whole affair." I looked up and didn't see any dishonesty, despite the cruelly amused expression on Kisame's face. "Everyone." Kisame's grin faltered for a more serious expression and I could tell an offer was coming. "I have a deal for you. If you accept, your little brother and your peers will never know this happened. In fact, I'll even have Itachi banish this memory from the one who's spying on us from the shadows." Said Kisame, keeping the final piece quiet. "Who is the one spying, anyhow?" Kisame looked towards the bushes, intent on answering my question. A figure almost as tall as I was stepped out, with long black hair stepped out. With my vision blurring a little bit, it was difficult to tell who the figure is, but luckily Kisame answered in the form of a question.

"Jessica, what are you doing all the way out here?" I couldn't even blush, given how tired I was, but continued listening to Kisame's conversation with her. "He looked like he was in horrible shape before the sealing began. Konan-sensei helped me follow him in the event a medic was needed, but this is… just terrible. Is Dan even awake?" Kisame looked over at me, probably knowing I was awake, but said otherwise. "Well, I think he's asleep. Lets head back to base, lest the 'Tenshi'** lose her mind and get worried about us. I'll bring Dan back." And I listened as Kisame whispered something to Jessica, which caused an 'eep' of fright. _Kisame really is sadistic and a threat maniac._ Little did I know, I had agreement in this statement. **_So true, so true: your teacher is a monster, in all of that word's definition._** I mentally snickered as I kept up my dead-tired asleep mode. Kisame walked over to me and whispered that Jessica had left, and I opened my eyes. **_Let me talk to him_**.

"Kisame, Sanbi-sama wants to talk to you." **_Place your hand in his forehead and I'll bring him to the mindscape._** I placed my hand on his forehead and immediately we were brought to the seal, which looked like something out of mythology. Isobu's cage was now a giant glass and bronze dome, underwater. The place where we stood was like a giant city, made of bronze, coral, and underwater sand and stone. My mindscape was literally a city underwater***. "This is quite the mindscape, Dan. I see why you'd give the Sanbi a 'sama' suffix, but I can't even get a 'san'?" **_"_****Monstrous fish-human come to me."** One of Isobu's blood-red eyes bored into Kisame, as the both of us approached the seal. **_"_****With me in his body, he should acquire a Suiton affinity. Several of the jutsu my past host used should be compatible with this boy, and given his tenacity, he could even try a few of your techniques, shark man. I know Suikazan taught you more than just Kenjutsu.**" Kisame's sadistic grin spoke of a common memory I was clearly being let out of. "Should we start heading to base? Leader's gonna lose his shit if I overextend that deal we made, and we gotta make sure Itachi wipes Jessica's memory before people know." Kisame and Isobu both made grunts of acknowledgement as we left the mindscape. From this point on though, we didn't leave as a mindscape, but as sensei, student, and Bijuu giving support to the half-assed bridge of our alliance. This was not such a bad day after all.

**Author's note: **

***Hopefully Deidara never meets Maito Gai.**

****Tenshi literally means angel, and the people of Amegakure call Konan Tenshi. (For further info, look at Konan's battle against Jiraiya)**

*****Basically this is an Atlantis-type place.**

**Dan's ailment – Does this play to the Akatsuki's favor or their enemies? Leave your thoughts.**

**Also, I need a beta. Manually editing all of this is an utter pain in the ***, and it would do me well to have someone else looking over for plot holes, something that not even word's Spelling and Grammar check can do. Please contact me about it in PM, or at the end of a review, and give a little summary of why I should choose you. Also, if anyone who has written a story knows of a good beta who's pretty active on this site, please send me that too (Preferably in PM).**

**Also, does "maru" (ie: Shikamaru, Kidomaru, Yukimaru, can't think of any others…) mean anything? Can anyone enlighten me about what its purpose is?**

**Thanks for tolerating this long wait, and the heavy support I've been recieving,**

**~KingsOfSarutobi**


	12. Chapter 12: Battles and Sewer Chases!

**Author's note:**

**I'll include a databook-like entry at the end of this chapter for reference about characters. Sorry this chapter took so abysmally, unacceptably long, school has been crazy. Sorry this chapter has taken so long to create. Also, on a side note, we have about 850 hits on the story. It's pretty dang tiny compared to some other stories, but given how rarely I can post, it's a bit of a miracle imo.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Naruto series, all rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto.**

**_Last time…_**

_Kisame and Isobu both made grunts of acknowledgement as we left the mindscape. From this point on though, we didn't leave as a mindscape, but as sensei, student, and Bijuu giving support to the half-assed bridge of our alliance. This was not such a bad day after all…_

**Sasori's POV – Later that night…**

I was not happy. I knew that leader wouldn't let me stay idle, mainly due to the fact that he had given money-making projects to Itachi and Konan, but only after Konan, Kakuzu, and myself had used our medical prowess to patch Dan up. _We do make a decent medic team…_ I thought, as I noted how the priorities of medic generally went to us. I made the blood regeneration pills, Konan used chakra tags to keep his system alive, and Kakuzu used his strings to send regeneration tags to Dan's internal organs.

Speaking of Dan, what could have caused him to lose so much blood without injury? _Could it have been corrosive chakra from the Sanbi?_ _Impossible_. I thought; _The Sanbi's chakra was patching him up too. There were no poisons in his system, I ran the blood tests and checked for any… No one's better than I am at creating poisons. Could Kisame have done something? No,_ I thought again; _Kisame wouldn't have brought our attentions to any injuries had he caused it for fear of being the culprit, plus a lot of injuries from Kisame are external…_ I snapped myself out of my thoughts as I entered my room.

Back to the original problem. I knew I had to get a replacement for Hiruko, and somehow make a good enough puppet in the little amount of time I had. Looking over to where I knew Hiruko blew up, I looked and saw… A fully repaired Hiruko? Rushing over, I inspected all of the joints that our 'beloved' pyros had blown up, frowning when I saw two metals fused together. _Stainless steel, and from the look of this, it was recent. The wood used for Hiruko has been renewed as well, fresh enough to last me a while. _Looking at the tail, where several bombs had gone off, I saw the entire length of it replaced with the same stainless steel, newly polished, and well sharpened. _The tail has been replaced entirely. Oh, and what is this? The end of the tail is partially detatchable, with a hole running down the entire length of the tail, perfect for a puppet string to maneuver. I wonder…_

"Wondering who fixed Hiruko, Sasori-sensei?" I looked up from my newly repaired armor, seeing Hanran sitting cross-legged on his sleeping bag, looking up at me with a small smile. Strangely, he had a sink-sized container of water next to his pillow. "What happened, Hanran?" I asked, my voice curious but with its usual nonchalance. Hanran walked over and opened one of my scrolls filled with lesser-used puppets. Opening it, he bit his thumb and slammed his hand into one of the slots, pulling out a puppet. _He's been touching my puppets?_ I thought as my helicopter-like wings popped out from my back, and my intestine stinger started to come unraveled as I knocked the tip of it against the ground, the threatening aspect of the poison fully displayed.

"Wait, wait wait, hold on for a bit before you kill me, I have to show you something, Sasori-sensei!" Hanran yelled, holding his hands up. I watched with surprise as he connected chakra strings to the puppet he just unsealed, a woman with dark hair. Noticing that he was only using one hand to do so, I watched with even more anger as he unsealed the Sandaime Kazekage and stuck chakra strings up to him. Noticing that I was growing more and more impatient, he had the Sandaime create iron particles and the woman use her base attack (One of the properties of my puppets being that each one has a base jutsu they can use when a puppeteer channels chakra into strings) and smelt a burning hot spike, before dumping it into the tub of water. Watching my murderous expression, he put both puppets back into their sealing places and scuttled back over to his sleeping bag.

For a few moments, I decided to use my lesser-known psychological torture abilities. Inside I knew exactly what I would do, but I wanted to see how he would react under pressure. After fiddling around for a few seconds, embarrassed and scared, Hanran sat cross-legged again and met my gaze, and even though I knew inside my apprentice was quivering, he had a good poker face. Smiling a little bit, I bopped Hanran on the head with the end of my intestine-spike. "Well done, gaki. Not only repairing and enhancing all of Hiruko's joints, but keeping a straight face in an undecided fate. Well done indeed." Hanran nodded, happy with the praise. "I have two more things to say, though." Hanran looked up again, wary. "Firstly, you fixed a problem of mine, and secondly, I'd like to know where you learned so much about puppetry, and the art of creating chakra threads." Hanran looked up and started to explain…

"You see, I've been focusing on observing how you use chakra strings, and using my mindscape with Shukaku as a moderator of my progress works fairly well. I went there to practice my chakra control exercises until I was ready for the attempt. I also looked through most of the Rikudo Sennin's scrolls on Kagetsu no Jutsu and found information about how to form chakra threads and use puppets in the various styles. After Deidara and Adam blew up Hiruko, I decided to give puppetry a shot and looked through your puppets until I found that fire using one, and with Itachi-sensei helping me with the design and providing Suiton jutsu* to cool off the newly made weapons. The hole in the puppets was his idea too."

I remained quiet as I thought of the implications of this. Firstly, if anything, there was certainly a plus in Hanran knowing exactly where his skills were at, and all that practice in his Bijuu's mindscape must have some benefits to his Jiton… He was likely the strongest of all the apprentices with all of his practice and the issues from the other members. Not knowing what to do next, I stood still until I heard the sounds of training dummies being sliced. _I'll have to check that out tomorrow morning…_

**Kisame's POV – The Next Morning**

Training inside of Dan's head turned out to be remarkably easy. _With the distortion of time inside of a mindscape, I trained Dan in enough kenjutsu to take down a genin or two, assuming they weren't the weak variety. If they were, well… _I grinned at this point, dreaming of the carnage that would be wrought. _Really, all it takes is the knowledge his brother will be safe and then he's all in…_ There would be no purpose exploiting this, however, especially because not all of the Jinchuriki or future Jinchuriki were well trained. Hanran and Senhana might give him a run for his money, but odds are anyone else would end up dead if they got in his way…

I watched in the real world as Dan cut apart several more training dummies, his speed growing, thanks to the Sanbi's training in Fuuton. Even so, he would need quite a bit of work in Suiton, but that would have to wait. Noticing Dan wanted more dummies or clones to train with, I created a Mizu Bunshin and watched the fight play out.

"Kisame-san, I have a question for you…" I turned around to see a redheaded puppet standing in the doorway of the training field. "Sasori-san, to what do I owe this pleasure?" I asked, my shark-like grin growing even more. "I see that I'm not the only one with a capable apprentice. I know that mine is stronger, but it would be good to see where yours is at." I bristled inside. That puppet's apprentice? Strong? Yeah right. "How about we put that to the test? A few hours from now we'll all gather to see my apprentice wipe the floor with yours, puppet boy." The air around Sasori was a little more hostile than before, but nothing I couldn't handle. "Fine. We'll see exactly who's ahead of the game then. Until then, lets get members placing bets." Sasori left the room after agreeing, and I made my way to the little 'library' the sage gave us. If there was any a time to study up on Fuuton Jutsu for my apprentice, now was that time. A puppet would not shame me.

**Kakuzu's POV – Three hours later **

"Kakuzu-san, Leader**-sama wants you**." I looked over from my money counting to see the resident spy and information gatherer, Zetsu. _What does Leader want with me now? More finance-based tasks or will I be going on my Jinchuriki hunt? _Stepping up from my money, I looked at our funds and who had gained what.

Itachi &amp; Clara: 300$ and 100$; earned through employment and Sharingan manipulation in money transactions

Deidara &amp; Adam: 600$ altogether – amassed through cleanup work (Ironically the city employed them to clean up the mess that they had created…)

Kisame and Dan: -200$, responsible for training costs and a broken window.

Hidan and Cassandra: -100$ (Use of cleaning materials to get rid of ritual evidence), 20$ (Given willingly).

Zetsu and Senhana: 0$ - Zetsu has been busy, Senhana has contributed to projects inside of base but no finance gathering ones yet.

Konan and Jessica: 0$ -Busy with medical supplies, no missions given.

Pein: 0$ - Busy at base, he is currently unable to accept missions.

Hanran &amp; Sasori: 100$ altogether from several ventriloquist acts at birthday parties.

Kakuzu: 1200$, gambling, stock market…

Total profits: 2320$

Total costs: 300$

Total funds: 2020$ - 220$ removed for payment.

Yes, 220$ was good enough payment for all of the trouble I had gone through. For now, anyway… Speaking of payment, I noted that Kisame was going around earlier asking for bets in a spar. I placed 220$ as my bet, knowing I would come out on top.

Walking into Leader's office, I saw that his desk had a piece of paper on it, but not rolled up in a scroll format. "Kakuzu, I have two tasks. The first one is to give me a financial report and money to pay the bill for this office. Once you give me the required funds," Pein fixed me with a stare that could freeze over hell – he knew I would take my own cut from the funds first, even if he disagreed. "Then you will hunt the future Hachibi vessel, with Zetsu and Senhana providing sensory and backup for any intrusions on the matter. The last time we hunted a future the city ended up with a new forest and put security on an all-time high."

Noticing that Zetsu and Senhana were right behind me, I knew that Pein would hold me to his task. It was too sad that there were no bingo books in this world, at least not any that I knew about yet…

"Kakuzu-**san, let's **go!" Senhana and I grabbed onto Zetsu as we melted into the ground to our destination. Coming out of the ground in a darkened alleyway, I had a little bit of time to reflect on the irony of this situation. _To think after that humiliation from Leader when I was recruited, am going to recruit someone and humiliate him if he doesn't agree to come along… I wonder how many of the other members had similar thoughts._ Shaking my head, I listened as Zetsu gave Senhana and I instructions.

**Dan's POV**

"Oi, gaki, I think it's about time to start the match against the puppet brat." I turned around; Kisame was standing some distance behind me, with a water bottle and some food with a chakra restoration pill in his hands. Motioning for me to sit down, I did so after giving a quick thanks. Our alliance was fairly simple. My little was kept under wraps except to the medical specialists, who were given the breakdown except for what the cause of my bleeding was. Jessica's memory was wiped through Sharingan, and Kisame trained me. I gave respect, and I received some in return. Kisame wasn't a nice teacher in the slightest, but every once in a while small bits of kindness would be shown. It wasn't anything major, but sometimes a pat on the back, a "good job, kid", or something like that. Something to let me know I was making progress and that someone was happy with me.

Isobu opened up a bit too, speaking with Kisame and myself about the potential of training inside my mindscape – the limitless possibilities of a mental training ground. Inside there, everything from chakra control to kenjutsu spars (albeit with gravity's force decreased for easier use of my blade), with small bits of ninjutsu stamped in. Right as Kisame mentioned the ability to abuse Kage Bunshin for combat experience and training, I had close to two months of combat training behind me. As I stood now, Kisame said I might be able to take down apprentice-level ninja, known as Genin, assuming they didn't 'wet their pants', or something like that…

Still, the food was good. All of the Akatsuki loved Japanese food, with Kisame having an almost manic level of love for all things fish related. Because of that, he made sure that the only time I had fish was when he would get some too. I sniffed the air to take a guess at what my teacher had brought me. Dumplings? Good stuff. Kisame sat down with a package of sashimi, going between wolfishly devouring the stuff to savoring every bite. As for me, I ate at a normal speed. Eating my chakra restoration pill, I noted that Kisame had a list of bets next to me.

Craning my head to look at the list, I saw that only 2 Akatsuki other than Kisame had bet on me winning, the six others clearly believing I wasn't strong enough. Kisame looked at that list and grinned too, knowing something was on my mind. "Keep in mind, Dan, _Hidan_ is one of the people voting against you. The odds of that imbecile getting anything right are one in a million. Plus," Kisame said, his smirk growing, "I don't think Hanran has any formal connection with Ichibi, where as the two of us can connect and work together with Sanbi in your mind, where you've gained tons of combat experience." Kisame was right. Training me to take down ninja, no matter how low level, was still exceptional, given my minimal experience and lack of time spent in an academy or any other village-based setting. _Then again, if what Tom told me about some of Naruto's classmates in their Genin days is true, that's not saying much._ I thought, with a grin. _Yes, I am going to beat Hanran. Just you watch, Kisame, Isobu._ **_I hear you, Dan. That shark-sensei of yours is right. You're also forgetting that I've got my pride on the line here. We Bijuu rarely fight, and don't forget that new move we practiced…_**_ Yeah, I hear you. This isn't only my fight; it's yours too._

Walking up to the roof, and into the little arena, I saw that all of the Akatsuki and their apprentices, except Kakuzu, Zetsu, and Senhana were present. Looking towards Hanran's stance across the arena, I saw he had two scrolls he didn't have before. _What do you think those are, Isobu: ninja tools, something that's too big to carry, or maybe puppets? Sasori is a puppet master after all, but do you think he could have learned how to use them so fast?_ I listened hard as Isobu responded. **_Technically there's no guarantee that training inside a mindscape was only our idea – Shukaku could at the very least be tolerating his Jinchuriki enough if this is going on, which could be a good thing. Anyway, puppetry to him is probably as powerful as Kenjutsu to you – not like a duck to water, but not impossible to pull off. Quite honestly, I don't know, but the match is about to start. Keep on your toes!_**

As Isobu said this, Leader stepped onto the field. "This match is between Jiton no Hanran and Sanbi no Dan. No permanent injuries or killing is allowed; any damages done to this building will be taken out of your payments for the organization. I will be regulating the betting, and Konan is managing my bet. When I count to three, you may start. One!" I pulled my sword off of my back and Hanran tore open his scrolls. "Two!" Hanran bit his thumb and smeared blood over the two puppets in the scroll. "Three!" Hanran's strings attached to his human puppets, one of which was a spear and shield wielding one in front who was like a guardian. His second puppet was a dark haired woman who stood at his side, who I noticed had large; burning claws attached to her hands. _This fight is going to get interesting_… I thought, as the spear puppet and myself charged at each other.

**_Kisame's POV_**

This fight had already given me nostalgia when it was announced – having people in stands, spectating, making bets on how novice shinobi would match up against each other… It was too reminiscent of the Chunin exams I had seen back in my day, although there was going to be a lot less blood.

Watching Hanran's armed puppet charge Dan, Sasori and I had a small discussion about their abilities. "That puppet was the first one I used to test his progress, it's called Hoko." _It's named Spear? I wonder why…_ "That second one I never thought I would use – I even forgot about its unique capabilities, mainly because it's not an easy combat puppet to use…" This I was curious about. _If Hanran chose a non-combat puppet intentionally, does that mean he's used it before? Speaking of which, how did he learn how to manipulate puppets so fast?_ _Perhaps he has learned how to contact his Bijuu or train inside of his mindscape?_ "Hey Sasori, how did that brat of yours learn how to manipulate puppets so fast? I thought it was a difficult art, especially for a shinobi with as little experience as Hanran."

"I believe he used something involving the Bijuu and his mind to train himself in puppet arts. I think his Bijuu helped train him to a more minor extent as well, but that's only my suspicion." _So Sasori wasn't the one to teach him puppetry, eh? What a strange apprentice…_ The spear of Hoko kept stabbing, while Dan dodged and used his sword to whack into its shield. Finally, Dan seemed to get tired of fighting this way and feinted downward to draw the spear down, and then, with a downward slash, cut the tip with about a foot of the spear off. Hanran scowled and drew his puppet back into a more defensive stance, which in turn gave Dan all the time in the world to make his next move. After all, no matter what, chakra strings could slowly use up Hanran's stamina, and a clear head would yield great results.

Hanran's second puppet jumped in now, clawing and grabbing at Dan. _Oh, with those firey claws, Hanran could immobilize and do damage to Dan before he could even react… How will you counter this, Dan? _Said person was jumping away, before sprinting low to the ground, around the puppet, and swinging his sword up in an arc. _His swordsmanship can't cut chakra strings yet, and that blade isn't meant to cut things as fine as chakra strings anyway… _There was some benefit though, as the puppet was thrown off course, right into the sword swing Dan had ready, slicing the puppet in half. Watching as Hanran's shield puppet charged, I saw Dan move to the side, reaching for something I saw him use in our first encounter. Senbon.

Grabbing senbon, he threw them while the puppet wasn't protecting him, and clapped his hands together, using **_Fuuton: Reppusho_** to blow the puppet off course and accelerate his senbon, watching as they pierced Hanran's shoulders and upper chest. They wouldn't kill, but if Dan's battles with his enemies at school were anything to go by, there was some type of low-level poison attached. Less than a minute of Dan dodging sloppy puppet maneuvers later, I could tell the poison was affecting Hanran's senses and reflexes, and when created three Kage Bunshin and surrounded Hanran with kunai, the puppeteer surrendered.

"Winner: Dan, by means of temporarily disabling his enemy." Pein's voice was unnecessary, but I grinned, knowing my winnings would be great.

**_Dan's POV_**

**_Well done, gaki. Well done._** I smiled and nodded, tiredly walking up to Kisame, who appeared to be gaining his winnings from the bet. Plopping down on an empty seat, I shook Hanran's hand, before I gave him the antidote to the mild toxin in my senbon. "Good job, kiddo. You made me quite a winning." Said Kisame, grinning wildly. "How much did you win, exactly?" I asked, knowing the numbers would be high. "Close to two hundred dollars, Itachi and Kakuzu made about the same amount." _Of course Kakuzu would win his bets… And I'm not too surprised at Itachi's betting luck too. Figures he would know Kisame wasn't bluffing about my ability levels._ "Tonight I'm taking you, Itachi, his brat, Kakuzu, and his brat when they arrive to dinner. All six of us are eating like kings tonight!" _To Kisame, 'eating like kings' probably means something along the lines of enough seafood to drain an ocean of all life._ I thought with a sweatdrop. _Regardless, I'm not paying and between him and Itachi, that'll be more than enough for six people._ **_And you didn't even have to play your trump card, we can save that for the next encounter._**_ Indeed. Cheers, Isobu.** Cheers.**_

**_Kakuzu's POV_**

My money senses were tingling. I wanted to get this mission over with fast; anything having to do with money was worth my time. "**Kakuzu-san,** the target is twenty feet in front of you, **the one who keeps looking back and panicking.**" I saw the target. He was the same age as the other Jinchuriki but very tall. Kept looking back at me, too. Following him with Senhana and Zetsu as air and backup support respectively, we watched as he chose one of the more foolish options in his arsenal. He ran in the middle of a crowded street and climbed down a manhole. Fan fucking tastic. Using the body flicker technique and appearing outside the manhole, I descended about a minute after I was sure he had gone down. I may as well see if my target had skill, or was just an idiot. _Regardless of skill, this one is doubly an idiot. Firstly because he looked back and went into a sewer, the second is delaying me from getting MY money. _Walking down, I saw Zetsu had transported Senhana down and the two of them were going down one path. Looking around, I saw three more paths. _Great._ Splitting my hearts, I allowed my Katon and Fuuton to go down one, my Raiton to go down another, and I personally went down the third, my Suiton heart-mask leading the way. Walking down my path, I heard his footsteps and breathing, loud and chaotic. _Definitely an idiot, but I have to give him credit. His footsteps and breathing are echoing and making it impossible for me to locate him. _At least, that's what I thought until I saw a flash of light. _Is one of his elements activating?_ I looked in anticipation until a long strand of charged water shot past me. _Ranton, the Storm Release. So, it's not one element that has activated, but two in one. Perfect, this saves me time and money._ Walking slowly towards my target, I saw that a horde of trees were chasing him from one side, while my Raiton mask was catching up, with the chakra signatures of my Fuuton and Katon ones not too far behind it. The teen looked between the trees, which had threateningly stopped, along with the masks and myself that were right there.

"What do you want?" I walked a few steps closer, stopping until all four of my masks caught up. Stepping out of the forest, Senhana and Zetsu appeared, so now surrounded with seven enemies, my target showed almost as much foolishness as Hidan. He attacked. Shooting off Ranton lasers like there was no shortage. Poorly aimed Ranton lasers too. Rushing forward, I trapped the fool in a headlock and whacked a pressure point. This one wouldn't be coming along willingly either. A waste of time and money down the road…

**_One travel back to base later… Kakuzu's POV still._**

"Kisame, Itachi, and their Jinchuriki are heading out in a few minutes. Wake up the future Hachibi and we'll question him before you go with them." That was the greeting I got from Leader-sama as I entered base. "Kakuzu, un, where's my pay check?" That was Deidara. "Kakuzu, you lazy old heathen, help me with my ritual!" And there was the idiot. Looking over at Leader, I simply said, "I'll do the questions with Kisame and Itachi, where are they?" As I turned, I saw an open door to the roof. At least Kisame and Itachi had a sense of time. Walking to wherever Kisame wanted to go would be tricky. Walking up with my unconscious apprentice, I waved over to Kisame who was talking with Dan, Itachi, and Clara. "Kisame, I'm here. When do we leave?" I noticed Dan and Clara's eyes on the person thrown over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "This is the future Hachibi. I captured him with Senhana and Zetsu earlier today." Kisame grinned and looked over side of the building, Dan following. Itachi and Clara continued talking. "What's the Hachibi like? And why is his chakra not at full capacity, does this one know how to use jutsu?" I nodded and recalled my story of climbing down into the sewer and the search done by my hearts and accomplices. "And then, the idiot accidentally shot out water infused with lightning, probably some type of Ranton jutsu." Itachi raised an eyebrow, impressed with my charge's use of Ranton. "And is he going to be loyal, or does he hate you?" Asked Clara, eyeing him. "He seems to be less of an idiot than Hidan. He could be a help or a total waste of my time, it's hard to see right now."

"Can you put him down?" Itachi asked. Nodding, I dumped my burden on the roof, as Itachi jabbed several pressure points, waking him up.

**Groan**… "What happened? Wait, aren't you the guy who attacked me?" I groaned and walked away, letting Itachi deal with him. "We're from an organization called Akatsuki, we're trying to find a way to get back home. You're crucial to that goal."

"That's a noble enough goal, but how is attacking and kidnapping me helping you get home? I'm sure there's other ways…" Itachi shook his head. "Here, I've explained this more than a few times. Clara, would you mind explaining it while I find out what Kisame and Dan are up to?" His redheaded apprentice looked down, and offered a hand to help him get back on his feet.

"My name is Clara, I'm in a similar situation to you. Want me to explain what's going on?" Seeing his nod, Clara smiled. The future Hachibi responded with; "Ah, that would be good. Name's Simeon by the way." I could feel Itachi's protective nii-san mode go into play once my apprentice's face was flushed. This was going to be a _very_ long night no matter what happens, it seems.

**_In another place…_**

"What a strange world this is, don't you think?" Said a shadowy figure as a thin trail of smoke floated above a gathering.

"It feels like the world is one big, strange genjutsu. Speaking of which, no civilians seem to have training to block or even recognize genjutsu." Said another member, unusual red eyes glancing at the first.

**Cough Cough** "This world is filled with unusual weapons, I haven't seen any weapons or any shinobi for that matter…" **cough cough**. Said another person.

"No ANBU, either." Said another.

"They have books, but I don't think they're the same kind as in our world…" Said another member, who lazily flipped a page in a book.

"STOP UNYOUTHFULLY READING YOUR UNYOUTHFUL BOOK, MY ETERNAL RIVAL!" Words could not describe the horror of seeing such a youthful creature…

"Everyone, calm down. My Byakugan can see a large concentration of chakra in one part of this city. I advise we make a base camp and save the arguing for after we discover if this is where the Akatsuki scuttled off to." Said the youngest member of the group, a man with whitish blank eyes, and a headband with a leaf on it…

"I'm just looking forward to seeing the expressions on their faces when they realize what a smart idea it was accepting Orochimaru as a member…" Said another member as she licked a kunai, grinning like a maniac. As the other members of the massive invasion force nodded and agreed with their thoughts…

**Author's note:**

***Itachi does have a secondary water affinity. Look on the wiki if you don't believe me. Plus, he's freaking Itachi.**

**Fuuton: Reppusho means "Wind Style: Gale Palm". Nagato uses it for those who are interested.**

**Some enemies have been revealed, and the conflicts will only get crazier!**

**The Data is coming up riiiight here:**

**Name: Hanran**

**Translation (If needed): Rebel, Traitor**

**Age: 15**

**Bijuu: Shukaku (Ichibi, relationship Neutral-Okay)**

**Kekkei Genkai: Magnet Release (Jiton, Lightning and Earth)**

**Akatsuki Teacher: Akasuna no Sasori**

**Strength: Genin-Chunin**

**Other Relevant Information:**

**Recently learned puppetry, loyal to Akatsuki. Skilled at puppet repairing. Has a group of former friends turned enemies who Hanran will likely seek revenge against in the near future.**

**Appearance: Shorter than most of the Akatsuki apprentices, has short, unkempt dark hair with dark eyes. (5'6")**

**Name: Cassandra**

**Translation (If needed): N/A**

**Age: 15**

**Bijuu: Matatabi (Niibi, relationship Neutral-Good)**

**Kekkei Genkai: (Wouldn't you like to know? It's very easy to guess… Niibi has Katon, Cassandra has Fuuton…)**

**Akatsuki Teacher: Hidan **

**Strength: Acadamy Student-Fresh Genin**

**Other Relevant Information: **

**Proficient at Fuuton Jutsu, rebellious to the Akatsuki. **

**Appearance: The same as Yugito Nii except without the ponytail. (5'10")**

**Name: Dan**

**Translation (If needed): N/A**

**Age: 16**

**Bijuu: Isobu (Sanbi, relationship Sensei-Good)**

**Kekkei Genkai: (I'm not going to give this one away, but it's very guessable)**

**Akatsuki Teacher: Kisame Hoshigaki**

**Strength: Genin-Chunin**

**Other Relevant Information:**

**Very strong with Kenjutsu and ninjutsu for his amount of time as a shinobi. Known to be among the strongest of the Akatsuki apprentices, as stated by Kisame and proved by the winning of his bet. Before shinobi days, fought against superior odds through use of Senbon, traps, and poisons. Has unknown ailment which manifests in coughing blood. Very loyal to little brother and his friend Tom.**

**Appearance: Tall, dark hair and light eyes. Often seen with a fierce expression. (6'0")**

**Name: Clara**

**Translation (If needed): N/A**

**Age: 14**

**Bijuu: Son Goku (Not sealed yet)**

**Kekkei Genkai: Lava Release (Yoton, Katon + Doton).**

**Akatsuki Teacher: Itachi Uchiha**

**Strength: Acadamy Student-Genin**

**Other Relevant Information: Highly loyal to Akatsuki, and mainly to Itachi. Knows all facts about his past and actively helps him for sealings and in all general activities due to Itachi's illnesses. Often is the messenger and representative of the Akatsuki Apprentices to Pein and Konan.**

**Appearance: Around the same height as Hanran, but with long red hair. (5'6")**

**Name: Adam**

**Translation (If needed): N/A**

**Age: 15**

**Bijuu: Kokuo (Gobi, Not Sealed Yet)**

**Kekkei Genkai: Shade Release (Meiton; Katon + Raiton)**

**Akatsuki Teacher: Bakuton no Deidara**

**Strength: Acadamy Student-Genin**

**Other Relevant Information: An explosion enthusiast, partially responsible for the 'Dimensional mishap' that came with Deidara's bombs. Hosts firework displays in spare time.**

**Appearance: Darker hair shade than Deidara, but blonde nonetheless. Messy hair, blue eyes. (5'9")**

**Name: Jessica**

**Translation (If needed): N/A**

**Age: 16**

**Bijuu: Saiken (Rokubi; Not sealed yet).**

**Kekkei Genkai: (Not revealed yet, you can guess)**

**Akatsuki Teacher: Konan**

**Strength: Acadamy Student-Genin**

**Other Relevant Information: Studies medical ninjutsu, has feelings for Dan. Previously knew Dan through school. Somewhat loyal to Akatsuki, mainly due to Konan's influence. **

**Appearance: (I believe her appearance was gone over in a previous chapter, so to avoid inconsistency I would advise looking at her debut…) (5'9")**

**Name: Senhana**

**Translation (If needed): Sage Flower**

**Age: 15**

**Bijuu: Choumei (Nanabi; Not Sealed Yet)**

**Kekkei Genkai: Wood Release (Mokuton; Suiton + Doton)**

**Akatsuki Teacher: Zetsu**

**Strength: Genin-Chunin**

**Other Relevant Information: Gained control of Mokuton before joining Akatsuki, known as one of the strongest of the Akatsuki apprentices, despite not having her Bijuu sealed in her. Somewhat loyal to Akatsuki due to involvement in missions and friendship of Zetsu.**

**Appearance: Similar to Hashirama Senju – brown skin tone, Long dark, straight hair and dark eyes. (5'7")**

**Name: Simeon**

**Translation (If needed): N/A**

**Age: 15 **

**Bijuu: Gyuuki (Not Sealed Yet)**

**Kekkei Genkai: Storm Release (Ranton; Suiton + Raiton)**

**Akatsuki Teacher: Jiongu no Kakuzu**

**Strength: Unknown**

**Other Relevant Information: Released Kekkei Genkai accidentally, has shown interest in Akatsuki's goals and sympathizes with them. Called an idiot by Kakuzu but has not been a victim of his legendary temper. Yet. **

**Appearance: To be revealed in THE NEXT CHAPTER!**


	13. Chapter 13: Infiltration & Party Plannin

**I have no excuses. Winter break + Weekends to write gives me a crap ton of time…**

**Also, this is unlucky chapter 13. If the glitch happens again *knock on wood* I'll lose my mind.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Naruto.**

**_Dan's POV – One Day Later_**

"This is a real problem. Their numbers have shot up, and many of this group are Jonin level and higher." All seventeen of us minus Zetsu sat around a table in the base, with a map of the city nearby. "Their base is on the other side of town, but luckily they haven't spotted us yet. As of now, I only see two legitimate possibilities for getting rid of this force. Due to their numbers, they have rented an abandoned warehouse, the same one that Adam was captured in, if I'm not mistaken." All eyes flicked to Adam, who looked thoroughly depressed.

"My fireworks…."

"Anyhow, the only solutions I see are this. We either attack them now while they're disoriented to this world and aim to destroy their entire group, or we use guellera tactics and pick off their forces until we can fight them on even ground, which will also give us time to seal Bijuu and increase the abilities of the Jinchuriki apprentices. As of now, only Dan, Hanran, and Senhana are capable of fighting a weak chunin, and we'll only have eighteen people to fight them with."

"Hey Leader-sama, what happened to that idiot of an associate Tobi?"

"Tobi was not transported with us, and even if he was, I doubt even Sasori's entire spy network would be enough to deal with this." All eyes flicked over to Pein. "Regardless of how we interpret this situation, it can only be summed up as apocalyptic. Does anyone have anything else to say?" Adam raised his hand, a light of mischief in his eyes.

"Yes?" Adam grinned.

"What if we dressed Deidara up like a girl and used him to seduce and kill the commander?" Needless to say, Deidara's eyes shrunk as he started shaking with fury. Kisame grinned and leaned back, whispering to me, "Watch this go down. He's gonna lose his mind..." Surprisingly, Deidara controlled himself, partly because of Hiruko's tail getting worryingly close to the rogue Iwa-nin. Sasori looked over at Pein.

"Adam's idiotic suggestion does bring up a question. Do we have any of the identities of the higher-ups, and what villages they represent?" Right as Sasori finished asking his question, Zetsu popped up in the floor and began to explain his findings.

"The villages represented by this force are: **Konoha, Suna, Taki, Kusa, Hoshi, Shimo, and Moya." **(A/N: Leaf, Sand, Waterfall, Grass, Star, Frost, and Haze…) "**The supreme commander **is Asuma Sarutobi, with the leaf contingent numbering at one hundred shinobi. **Several of these are the initial presences we detected.** Suna numbers at seventy shinobi, and is led by the Kazekage's sensei**, a man named Baki, who is talented at Fuuton ninjutsu and Kenjutsu.** The Taki contingent is lead by Yaku of the Hakari clan. **They number at thirty soldiers, most of which are from said clan**." At the mention of the Hakari several Akatsuki members looked up.

"Weren't the Hakari the clan that Nanabi girl was from? Fu or something like that?" Kakuzu looked up too, clearly intrigued.

"Yes, the scales clan. What on earth has drawn them out of their nest?" Zetsu shrugged and continued speaking.

"Kusa has sent fourty soldiers **under the command of a woman named Ryuzetsu, a kekkei genkai kunoichi.** Shimo has sent twenty-five soldiers **with no apparent leader. They are being dispersed among other companies.** Moya has sent ten shinobi; **many of them are highly eccentric and manic… Quite unusual people to be honest."** Pein looked over at us all and told us the total stats. "Two hundred and seventy-five shinobi, quite a few of which are Jonin or have special abilities. Does the magnitude of this situation mean more to you now?" The shinobi in the room nodded. It was time for drastic action, and we all knew it.

"What if we held a party or something and sabotaged their higher-ups?" Everyone looked at Adam in surprise.

"How would that work, exactly?" Adam rubbed his imaginary beard and thought.

"Well, what if we put flyers up all over the place with pictures of everyone in our group, and then said there was a party in the warehouse? Then we can disguise as partiers and spike their stuff while blending into the crowd!" Pein looked thoughtful and scratched his chin, thinking over out plan.

"Very well, I can allow this on one condition; everyone knows at least one offensive jutsu, tought to perfection by their Akatsuki mentor. I also want to have the Yonbi and Gobi sealed inside of Clara and Adam." Everyone nodded, and Pein looked each of us in the eye.

"Disperse. I want to see this plan come to fruition by the end of the week. To my Akatsuki members; the more powerful your student, the greater amount of choices you get in the long run." With that, we all departed.

**_Hanran's POV_**

As Sasori and I entered our room, Sasori briefly said his opinion.

"You're plenty strong, I think Pein was omitting us from his little task. But while we have time, it would be a shame if you misused that puppet you used to smelt Hiruko's new armor. Also, the spear and shield one would be a nice puppet to improve on, Hoko, was it?" I nodded and pulled out the puppets. Perhaps I could use these puppets for more than just combat…

**_Cassandra's POV_**

I left my makeshift den in Konan's room, something I wasn't too happy about. Ever since 'joining' the Akatsuki I had made Konan and Jessica's room my haven. Not that it was my choice to join anyway… Luckily they knew better than to leave me with Hidan, so they adopted me into their room. After having Niibi-sama sealed inside of me, I learned that I didn't need to set up the hammock they got for me. The good thing about having Niibi-sama inside of me was the feline instincts that came with it. Not needing a bed and simply needing somewhere to hide away was very nice, because I slept in ball underneath a desk, on top of the hammock and other soft(ish) materials. The room also smelled nice, a benefit I thoroughly appreciated with the Niibi's presence increasing my senses. Either way, I'd have to visit Hidan… Unless the jutsu Dan taught me for our escape was good enough. _Yes, it was good enough. Good enough to not have to visit Hidan, that is._ I thought as I entered slumber again.

**_Clara's POV_**

Itachi took me to the training ground Hanran and Sasori made.

"I'm going to teach you two Katon ninjutsu and the basics of Saru taijutsu; the former Yonbi Jinchuriki's taijutsu style, as somehow provided by the Rikudo Sennin. Which would you like to do first, Clara-san?"

"Ninjutsu, please." Itachi nodded.

"Pay close attention, I'm going to teach you an original Uchiha clan jutsu, known as the Gokakyuu no Jutsu. If you succeed at that, I'll teach you another Katon jutsu known as Hokensa. If you can do those, well… I fear to see how powerful you'll be at my age if you can master those in our limited time. Once we complete the Gokakyuu we'll be doing some preparation for the Yonbi's sealing, just so you should know." I nodded. I fully intended to master both jutsu. I would not fail!

**_Adam's POV_**

"Okay un. Lets try the **_Meiton: Kyuketsuko_**. How does that sound?" I shrugged. I had to learn a technique, so I may as well get started now. "So the seals are Ne, U, and then Tori. (**A/N: Rat, Hare, and Bird**) Lets gather chakra show them what our art is capable of!" I grinned. Nothing could ever beat art. Nothing.

"Hey Deidara-sensei, what about the idea of you being a seductress for the commander?" I laughed as I ran for my life, dodging explosives and explatives far too alike. This could be counted as training, couldn't it?

**_Jessica's POV_**

"Due to your fine chakra control, I think we should try a basic medical technique. I'm not a good medic, but you easily could be, if we teach you enough techniques and you work very hard. Leader-sama said we needed an offensive one, so the **_Shousen no Jutsu_** won't work. I suggest using the **_Chakura no Mesu_**. With that, your hands can easily become small blades useful for both killing and saving lives. A good medic always needs to keep him/herself safe, and once you get enough practice with this jutsu, you could activate the jutsu seallessly." My eyes widened, this was not something I was expecting. If it was to help the Akatsuki, Konan, and Dan… I would do it.

**_Senhana's POV_**

"You know the **Jukai Kotan. **You don't **need our help anymore, **especially because **you already got **practice in before joining us. **Plus, we're not a **combatant-type shinobi anyway." I shrugged and walked out. Perhaps I could spar with Hanran or Dan. Both of them were probably in similar situations to myself. Walking down the hallway, I dodged Adam and Deidara's sprinting through the hallways, the explosions that followed, and I even dodged Hidan's furious sprint after Deidara, screaming something about interrupting rituals… _This is why I am glad Zetsu-nii is somewhat normal. Speaking of Zetsu, I should probably get that popcorn we bought yesterday… _Walking into the kitchen, I put a bag of popcorn into the microwave, watched it pop the popcorn, and grabbed a few bowls. Walking into our room I held one out as I grabbed two chairs. The three-way chase between Adam, Deidara, and Hidan was too good to miss…

**_Dan's POV_**

"Kisame-sensei, I was wondering if I could bring one of my friends in as an associate of the Akatsuki." Kisame looked at me, a curious expression replacing his usual shark-like scowls and grins.

"Who?" I blinked at his unusual amount of curiosity before responding.

"My friend Tom, you know, the one who gave me all the intel about you guys. Remember how I told you that there was a show about your world in this one? He knows just about everything, and I bet he'd help us with information about our targets. In fact, if we called him or got him to meet with Leader and Zetsu…" Kisame's grin was back, full force. "Good idea, kid. Lets find him. Try to get there only using chakra powered jumps like we've been practicing, they're essential to shinobi." I nodded and started walking towards the roof. I hesitated.

"Kisame, last time Tom showed he liked Cassandra. Lets bring her along in case our arguments fail." Kisame grinned and spoke.

"Exploiting your friends' weaknesses, and using them to accomplish your goals? My my, you really are becoming a shinobi. I guess the Sanbi has been doing more than teaching you Suiton jutsu. Speaking of the Sanbi, what types of stuff has he been teaching you?" I smiled and spoke.

"Shinobi don't tell their secrets." Kisame shrugged, likely to push me to my limits next time. He never did know how to hold back.

**_Hagoromo's POV_**

"Hey Hamu, have I forgotten something?" I looked at my white-eyed brother, watching as he sighed in exasperation. Hamura looked at me and whispered something in my ear. I really was getting senile, even in a place where I couldn't age! "Thank you Hamu, I'll be sure to fix the problem. Now, how shall I make things interesting for these shinobi…."

"Hago, do they know that you were the one who allowed that army of their enemies to enter?" I rubbed the back of my head, laughing.

"They'll never know."

**_Pein's POV – Three days later;_**

I really did have the best subordinates. Itachi's sharingan work was phenomenal, convincing a chunin to give Sarutobi the idea of investigating nearby parties to draw out Akatsuki and Akatsuki information really was a nice idea, complimented further by the fact that Adam had spread the word through all of the fans of his and Deidara's pyro-idiocy. As of now, over six hundred people would be at this party, including the shinobi from Konoha's alliances, if all went well. It was time to make our final decisions. _Akatsuki and Jinchuriki, ASSEMBLE. It is time for any final calls for this party. _After a chorus of "Hai, Leader-sama…" Everything would fall into place. This was a now or never chance. As everyone showed up and sat down, I placed a box with a small slit for people to place paper in on the table. "If there are any ideas, you may write them down anonymously and I will review them."

A few minutes passed of ideas being written down and placed in the box. Shaking it, I tore apart the side and grabbed one.

"Request: Permission to seal large ninja tools in scrolls on our being, and small ninja tools that can be hidden on our being. Permission granted." I grabbed another.

"Request: We will make Deidara appear female to seduce the commander of the invasion force. Unorthodox and unusual, but if it ensures victory, granted." I grabbed another piece of paper, disregarding the furious noise in Deidara's throat.

"Request: All girls and women must only wear swimsuits at this party. I am not Jiraiya of the Sannin. Denied." Grabbing another piece of paper, I disregarded the eyes of the Kunoichi in the room searching for the guilty face of the one to suggest that.

"All Akatsuki members and associates have free reign to come and go as they wish within reason. Permission granted, as long as the emphasis is within reason." I grabbed another.

"Akatsuki members and apprentices can return here within three hours of the party starting if they are non-critical to success. Permission granted, although members and apprentices alike must get Konan's or my permission." I saw that was it for the suggestions and looked at everyone very seriously.

"This party will make or break our position in this world. If we manage to break these allied forces, we will have no trouble expanding Akatsuki influence and teaching you all enough before we return to our world."

"Leader-sama, I just thought of an idea." I turned to Clara, who was looking at the ring on Itachi's hand. Inclining my head, I waited for her to continue.

"These rings, from what I know, are central to the Akatsuki's effectiveness. The abilities to assemble a meeting, communicate telapathically, and channel chakra into the Gedo Mazou are highly effective. I was wondering if we could set up something similar for us apprentices to channel chakra to each other and have full telapathic communication to start. Perhaps we could include something flashier in these rings just in case we need to assemble, but for now, this is sufficient." I closed my eyes and knew that the Akatsuki rings were all connected through a constant use of the Gedou Mazou's chakra, which also was the chief enabler of the Akatsuki's assemblies.

"Zetsu, Konan, Itachi, and I will look into that possibility. I would highly recommend that you each choose an inconspicuous kanji to put on your rings though. There is no need for senseless risk." I looked around. Everyone looked fairly restless, so I simply waved my hand in a dismissive signal. When everyone left except for Zetsu and Senhana, I knew that my task had arrived at long last.

"Pein-sama, Senhana and I located the Jinchuriki. **He looks a bit like a younger you, to be honest. **But Leader-sama isn't idiotic! **I didn't say he was idiotic. Be. Quiet.**" Senhana sighed and stepped in front of Zetsu, looking at me. My eyes narrowed. Would he be similar to me as in Nagato, or was he similar to Yahiko, my deva path?

"Zetsu-niisan told me that, assuming the future Kyuubi doesn't have a Kekkei Genkai that's the same as ours, he'll either have a combination of Earth and Wind (**A/N I wrote this story before Magnet Release was proven to be Earth and Wind, so in this story it's Earth and Lightning)**, Fire and Wind, Water and Wind, or Wind and Lightning. I'd also note that the idiotic piece mainly pertains to the fact that he's headstrong and a little bit arrogant." One of my eyebrows rose.

"I think we can knock out two birds with one stone, Zetsu, Senhana. Make sure this…"

"Uh, Levi, sir."

"Levi gets into the party and doesn't interact positively with the allied shinobi. We'll bring him back to base with us once we determine his Kekkei Genkai. Are you okay with this being an additional task?" Senhana shrugged and looked at Zetsu, who nodded.

"We will succeed,** Leader-sama.**" I closed my eyes and prepared my chakra for the simultanious sealings of the Yonbi and Gobi, a difficult feat without the fact that Clara wouldn't be helping Itachi with his low chakra reserves. Sighing, I knew this was gonna be a long day…

**_Clara's POV (One Sealing Later)_**

**"Foolish Human, what do you intend to do now? Demand me to kneel at your feet? Never! I, Son Goku, the Sage King of all monkeys, named by the Rikudo Sennin himself – a name given by the God of Shinobi!"** Looking inside of my mindscape, I was greeted with a huge cage and a massive ape inside it, four octopus tails thrashing around wildly.

"I'm not your enemy, Yonbi-san."

**_"_****What type of crap is that? I'm the one who you willingly sealed in yourself for some messed up organization! All humans are evil abominations created by power!" **One of Son Goku's eyes narrowed, while the other one opened even wider as he let off another wild laugh.

"Son Goku-san, if you are a sage, why don't you use your powers to learn exactly who I am?" Son Goku's eyes narrowed processing the potential threat in front of them.

**_Son Goku's POV_**

_This one's eyes are different. Not trying to suppress me or make some type of dominance over me. Despite my title, I have no sage mode with which to investigate her… Well, I may as well examine what I can with my limited sensory abilities… If chakra is usually similar to behavior patterns… Fierce but pious and respectful… Her memories as of late seem to be pious in regard to this teacher of her's. There isn't a lot of the pride that corrupts most humans… What on earth is she?_ Calming down to an extent, I sat down, letting my tails wave behind me.

"**What on earth are you up to, human?"** The gaki in front of me smiled, sitting down as well.

"Firstly, I'd like some assistance with yoton ninjutsu. The second and more pressing matter is that I'd like to form some type of agreement with you. I know this won't be easy, but I have some thoughts I'd like to share…"

**_Adam's POV _**

Not in a way dissimilar to Clara, a new development was taking place in my seal too. A large plain greeted me for my meeting with Gobi. Turning around, I saw the beast in all its majesty. Despite how much I despised boring long-lasting arts, I could appreciate the peace of this plain.

The Gobi, a white horse-like creature with a dolphin's head, stood with medieval-looking stakes pointed towards its body. The five tails stood totally still, eyes open and observant, as if seeing every little action and thought in my head. That being said, its eyes were not hateful.

"**Little human, what are you here for?**" I jumped and looked at the Gobi, realizing that it was the one who had spoken.

"Ah, that's a good question. Why am I here?" The Gobi blinked, and narrowed its eyes.

"**I was not the one who initiated this conversation, therefore it was you. I'll ask again; what are you here for?" **I blinked; I didn't really have an answer to this question… What on earth does one say to a Bijuu?

"Ah, I don't know, sorry…" I said, rubbing the back of my head and slowly backing out of the cage. _That got nothing done… At the very least I didn't offend the Bijuu, I think… What should I do next?_

"So uh, what's your name?" _That seems like somewhere good to start…_

**_Gobi (Kokuo)'s POV_**

_My name? Has any human asked that before? _

"**Why do you want to know, human?**" He blinked.

"From what the Akatsuki have told me, you're gonna be sealed in me till the day we both die or get ripped apart. We may as well make the most of it…" I internally scoffed; anything the Akatsuki did couldn't be good.

**"What is your game? Why would the Akatsuki, the people who previously extracted me, want anything good? How do you know that this isn't a temporary situation until they can get back into their world?**" The human blinked, thinking for a moment.

"Well, honestly, I doubt the Akatsuki would try forming bonds if they were gonna simply betray us. I certainly doubt someone like Deidara would agree to betray someone who's so similar to him in ideals…" I paused and thought_. If Han was anything to go by, my Jinchuriki have been far from perfect. _Namely, they could all be put in two categories. The first kind sought to control me and establish dominance to fix their shattered existences, and the others considered that they were myself incarnate and denied our separate existences.

**"That's not a bad train of thought, but you should be careful when dealing with them. I'm more than willing to consult you more in this matter…" **I waited for his response.

"That reminds me, what's your name anyway? You never told me…" _Another first. The Jinchuriki asking my name views it as some type of importance?_ "If it really is that big of a deal, I can introduce myself first… My name is Adam, I'm your new Jinchuriki. I like explosions, pranks, and fireworks, I don't like Sasori and his wannabe, and we're now working together." I knew that a response was expected, and given the level of politeness and honor I had received thus far, I figured the least I could do was enjoy it while it lasted.

**"My name is Kokuo, and I am the Gobi no Irukauma. I enjoy fields in which I can run around, and I dislike it when Jinchuriki of mine treat me like a mere animal or deny my existence." **My Jinchuriki nodded, acknowledging the truth in my words.

"How long have you been around anyway? I've heard that Bijuu are made of pure chakra, so how long have you alive?" Yet another unusual question…

"**Have you heard of the Sage of Six Paths?"** From then on, I knew everything would turn into a massive storytelling session. _Oh well, at least I'm being respected…_

**_Dan's POV_**

"Dan, I have a new task for you…" I turned around, seeing Kisame standing behind me.

"What is it, Kisame-sensei? More combat practice?" Kisame shook his head, grinning.

"Leader told me that we needed more information about the sizable Konoha contingent of these invaders, namely if they have anyone important names among them. You remember that Konoha Bingo Book I showed you? Remember a few of those names?" I nodded, reciting what I had learned.

"Jiraiya of the Sannin, master of Sennin Mode, worth fifty-five million Ryo. Tsunade Senju, last of the Senju clan, granddaughter of the First Hokage, and current Hokage of Konoha, also worth fifty-five million. Copy-Ninja Kakashi Hatake, son of the Konoha no Shiro Kiba, wielder of the Sharingan, last student of the Yondaime Hokage, worth 42.5 million ryo. Asuma Sarutobi, son of the Sandaime Hokage, former member of the Guardian Shinobi Twelve, commander of the invasion force, and head of the Sarutobi clan, worth thirty-five million ryo. Maito Gai, Green Beast of Konoha, Taijutsu master who can open at least seven of the Eight Inner Gates, worth fourty million ryo. Chiriku of the Fire Temple, former member of the Guardian Shinobi 12, head monk of the Fire Temple…" Kisame bopped me on the head to shut me up, and laughed.

"Someone's clearly done his research! Anyhow, your mission is simply to find out how many of those Konoha shinobi you mentioned are in the group. Considering they're the core of this army, we may as well see who's important, right? And plus, we have no guarantee that they'll come to this party, eh? No matter how much advertising and genjutsuing we use on them, nothing sells the deal better than someone spreading word by mouth. Your job is to go into the warehouse they're camped in with party invitations, and give descriptions of people who look similar to Akatsuki members."

I grinned and looked forward. I could see the possiblities of telling them someone with red eyes or blue skin was attending the party. Hell, for all I could do, I could just say he had a bandaged thing on his back, which sounded like it was alive!

"Mission accepted. How do you expect me to know where I got the information from?" Kisame looked around, and then smiled.

"You're a Jinchuriki, you've got an extra mind to help you. Consider this your test, if you will…" I was nervous, but I knew this was the chance. Kisame wouldn't give me this task if he didn't have something in mind…

**_An Hour Later_**

_Why the hell did Adam choose a place like this to launch his fireworks? Isn't it a bit, you know… _

**_Terrible? Dangerous and unstable?_**

_I wasn't going to be that extreme, but something along those lines…_ I could hear my Bijuu snorting inside of my mind

**_I'm not going for kindness, kid. What do you think that Kisame fellow was thinking, sending us here?_**

_Well, I doubt he was lying about testing us. It's about time we get started, isn't it…?_ The Sanbi grunted in my mind, agreeing with my analysis. Sensing a chakra presence nearby, I readied myself without giving any signs of surprise. _Sanbi-sensei, please keep an eye on my chakra to stop anything that will give us away._ Hearing a grunt from the turtle beast, I kept walking, waiting for the ninja to confront me.

"You there, who are you?" I turned around, and saw a shorthaired ninja with a large white dog behind me. The ninja was wearing the standard leaf headband around his forehead and had two red markings on his cheeks and his eyes were slits, like a dog's. _That one is partnered with the dog, I wonder how that works…_

**_Be careful, Dan. I was once sealed in a friend of the clan this guy's from. They're called the Inuzuka; they have enhanced senses of smell and hearing. If that guy's senses realize you're a shinobi, either by smell or a fault on your part, we'll be facing an army, and you aren't quite chunin level… _**

_I get it, _I thought, not needing or wanting to know anything else.

"My name is Dan, why do you ask?" I responded, taking an expression of pleasant confusion.

"This is private property, please state your business!" I took an expression of shock, which was partly truthful.

"I've been here a lot in the past, when did it become private property?" By now, even my limited sensory abilities could detect the presence of several other shinobi observing. The Inuzuka boy frowned and then spoke up.

"Listen, it only became private property a couple of days ago. I would get off of this plot of land before you get arrested on trespassing charges." I frowned again. If I kept pushing, a Jonin or a few other Chunin would come. I knew I wasn't the best at information gathering, but at the very least, I could…

"I'm having some trouble believing your case, considering you look around my age, is there an adult or someone else in the vicinity I could talk to get another person's take on this?" The Inuzuka narrowed his slit-like eyes at me and discretely moved his hand in a signal, as I felt the chakra signatures I discovered earlier move in.

Surrounding me was a man with what looked like a makeshift gun full of paper tags on his back, a blond haired girl around my age with a purple top that exposed her stomach, another shinobi with an old styled helmet remeniscent of the Nidaime Hokage, and a man I recognized from the Bingo book, who was even more unusual in person; Maito Gai. All of them wore Konoha forehead protectors. **_There's something unusual about that one with the old helmet. His chakra feels intimidating and unusual. _**

**"**You, my good youthful individual, were looking for confirmation of this place's youthful privacy?" I nodded, but raised my hand.

"All I wanted to see was proof that more people were involved. Plus, I have two other reasons to leave. Firstly, I don't want to make the pretty girl angry (A/N: This will NOT be an OC/Ino story. Never will be. NEVER.), secondly, I don't want to take the odds of making five people angry incase this turns into a less than peaceful discussion. I'll take my leave." Everyone there smiled and moved a way for me to leave.

"Good day." I said, and departed, before turning around. "Ah, wait, I was told to deliver something here." The shinobi turned back towards me curiously. Holding out some invitations to the party, with pictures of civilians and a discrete image of Itachi in the corner on it, I smiled and spoke.

"Apparently a party is taking place. Did you hear about it?" The leaf shinobi looked at me confusedly. I pointed at the picture of Itachi, making them all gasp. "This guy along with some tall blue skinned dude were walking around asking people to deliver stuff, I was one of the unfortunate souls to be intimidated into this." They looked at each other and then me.

"You should come with us, we should talk about that…" **_Brat, if they get their hands on you, that blonde girl will pick your mind apart. She's part of a clan that could read minds. At first, I wasn't sure, but now I'm certain. They're going to search for your memories of Itachi and Kisame and then purge them! If they look, they'll see… _**_Sanbi-sensei, this is not the time. We have to get out of here…_

"If it's possible, could we do this another time? I'm due home, and my little brother needs help with his homework, and my dad needs me to get groceries. My friends need to talk to me about something important, and…"

"Here, how about if one of us came with you, maybe the pretty girl?" I looked over at the mind jutsu girl, knowing that I wouldn't have to deal with the enhanced senses of the Inuzuka or Maito Gai.

Walking around with the girl near me, I decided to gain more information.

"My name's Dan, what's yours?" She looked over and gave me a smirk. It was a shame I had to deceive such a pretty enemy…

"I'm Ino Yamanaka, nice to meet you!" She said, adding a tiny wink at the end. _Definitely one of those 'popular' sorts… __**Sheesh, no kidding…**_

"You must not be from around here, I take it?" She gave me a sharp look, probably wondering if her cover was still intact. "I mean, take a look. Your hairstyle is like nothing I've ever seen; you're a minor working in some type of property thing, and I've never seen clothes like those. Everything about you screams 'I'm new here." She looked away and went to a new topic.

"So how far away is your family? This is really important." I looked in front of me. If I kept on this current path and kept taking useless turns, I would show up in about an hour. Plenty of time.

"Not too far, we just have to keep going on this route." _I wonder if I could make a bathroom stop or something in order to make a getaway…_

**_Third Person POV _**

"Uh, I have to use the bathroom. Can we stop for a minute?" Ino looked at Dan and nodded, watching as Dan ran into a restarant and went into the bathroom. Waiting outside of the bathrooms, Ino waited, listening for her target to leave. Inside of the bathroom, Dan made a handsign and watched a water clone form into being. As Dan used the bathroom for its actual reasons, the water clone transformed into a generic Iwa ninja and assumed a false voice; right after Dan finished and opened the window, as the water clone jumped out and entered the restarant.

"I saw that there was a little Yamanaka here? Where are you, little Yamanaka?" Ino's eyes widened as she went to confront the 'Iwa ninja', pulling out a kunai. Meanwhile, Dan smiled and took his time climbing out of the window, hearing the 'Iwa Ninja' perform several Fuuton ninjutsu, before hearing the water clone run out the door and hearing Ino pursue.

Quickly making a Kage Bunshin, Dan sent away while he went to a forest in order to get some form of training in with his new jutsu.

**_Kisame's POV_**

"Kisame-sensei." I turned around and saw Dan kneeling behind me, or rather, a shadow clone.

"Mission result?" The clone looked up and grinned.

"Successful. I'm continuing to train. I know for a fact that they have Maito Gai in their midst, along with a ninja who's chakra feels rather unusual and threatening to a Bijuu. Aside from them, there was a shinobi with an unusual paper bomb-machine gun, a member of the Inuzuka clan, and a member of the Yamanaka clan by the name of Ino. Judging by this, they could have any number of clan members from Konoha. I managed to escape from them by using a Sui Bunshin henge'd as an Iwa Ninja engage in combat and then escaping, and then I just climbed out the window." Kisame laughed and whacked the Kage Bunshin, dispelling it.

**_Dan's POV_**

"**You desire my power? My assistance is not enough?"** I kneeled before Sanbi-sensei, seeing the turtle watch me carefully.

"Sanbi-sensei, I merely desire your abilities in danger, and only up to a tail's worth of your power at maximum unless strictly necessary." The Sanbi stared me down, as if asking a question.

"**And what will you do about that disease of yours? Even my chakra can't cure it."** I looked up at the Sanbi, this being one of my less favored discussion points.

"I'm no hero, but I'd like to continue with my task until I die. You of all people know that I cannot survive this disease for more than a few years... I may as well make them count." The Sanbi raised a nonexistant eyebrow.

"**What part about helping the Akatsuki is making your remaining time on this world count?" **I looked down again, unsure of how I should respond for a second…

"I'd rather know that in my lifespan I helped people get back to their world, rather than be some average nobody. I'd like to be something important, believe it or not…" Sanbi-sensei chuckled and looked down.

**"And where do I stand in this whole deal?"** I looked up at the Sanbi, with an answer I had prepared ahead of time. It was the only answer I saw as correct.

"Well…"

The Sanbi's eyes widened even more, seemingly in utter shock as my decision unfolded (**A/N: ^_^ I'm such a terrible human being, aren't I?**), eyeing me with sadness of some variety.

**"How interesting… You have my cooperation, child…"**

**_Isobu's POV_**

**_What a curious shinobi… Nothing like Yagura, his possessor, or any of my predecessors… His motives are true, but is he serious? If he is… _**

**"Dan, you're fucking insane. You know that, right?"** My Jinchuriki nodded, smiled, and departed our meeting. **_This next meeting will be interesting…_**

**Author's notes: **

**So Winter Break was fun for me, how about the rest of you? I got a lot of extra sleep and time to think stuff over, and I got a few new ideas for this story… Also, I have a story recommendation for any of you. For anyone who likes hilarity in the highest degree, I would recommend a story by the name of "Drunk Space-Time ninjutsu", a true masterpiece of madness.**

**Some questions for readers (Guests, you're welcome to leave reviews too; they help me get motivated to write chapters!)**

** was this chapter in comparison to others?**

**2\. Who is your favorite character and why?**

**3\. How do you think the Akatsuki &amp; Shinobi party will go?**

**4\. How many people got the Biblical reference I put in?**

**5\. Do you have any predictions or ideas you'd like to give to me, if so, tell me!**

**Also, please be merciful in your viewings of this series, especially because I lack a beta and my primary goal was to get this chapter moving…**


End file.
